Program

I. General Provisions

The PCDPM is a party of popular type. It is therefore open to all Moldovan citizens, irrespective of the social, religious or ethnic group to which they belong. The politics of PCDPM prioritizes economic problems, and first of all the application of agricultural reforms, the need to revive our national culture and the free circulation of values asserted throughout history, to develop new political prospects and strategies, to contribute to the free development of the society and the peaceful resolution of vital problems, however complicated they are.

The political activity of the PCDPM aims towards the wellbeing of the entire people. To achieve this objective we need to elect competent leaders, who should be committed to the democratic principles and norms, show tolerance towards other than their own points of view, and accept compromises that would solve the nation's major problems.

The activity of the PCDPM shall be wholly founded on the Christian conception of the individual and his/her responsibility to God.

II. Fundamental principles

The Policy on Private Property

The private property is the foundation of a socially oriented market economy, and a fundmanetal charactersitic which makes the latter distinct from all other economic and social systems.

The private property offers citizens the opportunity to act according to his/her own will and hence increases the area of his/her personal freedom. All citizens must be given the opportunity to have access to the most varied forms of property. It is necessary to give peasants and workers the chance to become owners of land and the means of production, because only then will their economic dependency be reduced and their interest in the development of the production process increased. Likewise, this will guarantee a fair distribution of incomes given that a state is rich only when its every citizen is wealthy and insured welfare.

Given this, the PCDPM pleads for state guarantees for private propoerty, free initiative, and free competition, and will support the introduction of this principle into the Constitution.

The Respect for Human Rights

The PCDPM acknowledges the equality of rights of all people. We plead for men and women, professional, social, religious and ethnic groups living in Moldova to enjoy equal rights because they are interdependent. All these categories of population are equal partners in a joint effort to achieve the material prosperity and spiritual development of our people.

Justice means the same rights and the same laws for all, including those who need yet to realise that they enjoy equal rights as everybody else. The law is there to protect every individual from the power abuse by other individuals or by the state. The law makes possible the accomplishment of freedom even by the weakest of our citizens (children, the disabled, the illiterate, etc.).

The PCDPM acts towards true social justice which resides in giving everyone equal chances to develop freely and assume responsibility for him/herself and for others. The equality of chances is an absolutely necessary appendix to the equality before law. Thus, every individual should be given the freedom to act in order to develop his/her own personality according to their own free choice. This could be achieved through adopting an appropriate system of access to all forms of education and professional training without any conditions. The PCDPM pleads for shared responsibility, making use of all goods necessary for living, as well as of the right to own private property.

One of the fundamental human rights is the right to work. Work means not only the opportunity to earn a living, but also a way of asserting one's personality. For this reason, unemployment allowances, however substantial, will never replace the satisfaction of earning a living through one's own work. The PCDPM believes that the right of all people to work obliges all those responsible, the state, the employers and the unions, to make use of all possibilities to create full-time employement for everybody. Everyone needs to be given the chance to shape their lives as they wish.

The Chrsitian position of the PCDPM resides in the duty to help those who have not had luck in life and to guarantee everyone the conditions for a life in dignity, even when they are doing poorly due to their own mistakes. The fundmaental values, Freedom, Solidarity and Justice, are at the foundation of the political activity of the PCDPM.

The Development of Personality

Marriage and family are the most stable forms of human cohabitation. They form the foundation of the state and the society, and therefore need to be protected through the Constitution. Neither the state, nor other forms of social life can replace the family. As a living and education community for the future generation, the family is the first and most important locus of development of the human personality in an atmosphere of love and care.

The PCDPM believes that marriage is a community of partners intended to last throughout life and whereby the man and woman mutually recongnize each other's personal worth, are responsible to each other and share equaly the burden of family life. As parents they need to share responsibility for their children as well.

Parents and children should have cooperation relationships based on love and mutual trust. Those who decide to have children need to assume certain responsibilities and duties which they are obliged to meet. No one has the right to set one's children against their parents, just like no one has the right to disturb the peace and understanding between parents and children.

The PCDPM will plead for granting special aid to families with many children, those who have disabled children and those with a single parent.

III. Economic Policy

The PCDPM believes that the foundation of a market economy based on free responsibility needs to be founded on the following principles:

• Responsibility and social justice;
• Competition, loyalty and solidarity;
• Personal responsibility and social security.

The PCDPM advocates the development of a socially oriented market economy through personal initiative and more active involvement of the individual in the achievement of the socio-economic process of the soceity in its entirety. All decisions of economic, financial and socio-political nature need to contribute towards achieving this goal.

The market economy is diametrically opposed to the socialist economy which has the most harmful effect on the individual rights and freedoms by passing the production means into the ownership of an amorphous body and by being based on centrally adopted plans.

We believe that a centrally run economy, oriented towards planning not only the economy but also the very citizen hampers the development and assertion of the individual. Therefore the objectives of our country's economic development as conceived by the PCDPM are the following:

• Putting the land into the ownership of peasnats;
• Creating jobs for everyone;
• Monetary stability;
• Increasing economic efficiency;
• Maintaining the balance between the economic development and the development of non-economic factors;
• Respecting the environmental norms to protect the nature and ensure a normal life for the generations to come.

The reduction in unemployment is an important economic and social objective that can be attained only through the coordination of joint efforts of the state (which has at its disposal political instruments) and of the two partners - the employers and the employees.

To reduce unemployment, all means are to be used. In this sense the measures related to the reduction of working hours will only succeed when account is taken of both of the continuous growth in productivity and the employment of new workers, as well as the unfolding of the process of putting land into peasants' ownership.

Monetary stability

The currency stability is a decisive prerequisite for lasting economic profitability. Currency stability alone makes it possible for wages to match one's efforts.

The widely recognized right to accumulate wealth in various ways (agricultural equipment, houses, co-ownership of enterprises, shares, savings books) will be possible to apply only when the value of the national currency, the Leu, will stay stable. The same thing is valid for the insurance of socially vulnerable citizens. Currency stability is to be ensured in the first place by the Government and the National Bank, which should be independent of the Government.

The need to increase production

Increasing the production should not be an objective in itslef. It is rather a premise for other achievements:

• Sufficient work places and professional training;
• Guaranteed functioning of the social insurance system;
• Funding of public tasks and services;
• Ensuring the defence capacity of the state;
• Fulfilling the obligations assumed towards the states whith whom political and economic ties have been established.

The development of production should not lead to the creation of inhuman working conditions and the polution or even distruction of the environment.

Politicy on economic structures

The task of the policy on economic structures is to strengthen the adjusting capacity of the economy to social objectives. The exagerrated high prices for production as related to the ones in other countries, the increased costs of power resources and raw materials, the costs of environment protection, as well as the increase in costs for services to the population, particularly in rural areas, might prompt important changes both of economic and of social nature.

The economic policy of the state should support the strucutral transformations and not try to preserve forcefully and artificially the old structures. As for the economic policy at the level of counties, it is very important to act towards creating similar living conditions in all Moldovan counties thus ensuring equal opportunities for all citizens. In this sens the state is to contribute towards creating the corresponding infrastructure in all counties.

The PCDPM is against any direct interference in decisions on investments by agricultural firms, individual peasant farms and enterprises. Our party is against state management of investments, the estimation of forecasts and decisions of all kinds taken centrally.

All these but particularise the profitability and capacity of structural adjustment of the economy.

Fiscal policy

The fiscal laws should respect the principles of a socially oriented market economy. The establishment of taxes should be done taking into account the principle of equality of rights, and avoid discouraging initiative and hampering profitability. A fair fiscal system should distribute justly the fiscal burden. At the same time, the income tax should take into consideration not only the personal randament, but also such difficulties as family spendings, which the person in question needs to handle. In order not to weaken the national economy, the fiscal system should not be too much of a burden for the national economy and the citizens. The consolidation of the public budget needs a fiscal policy to contribute towards economic development. It needs to support the capacity and willingness to invest and take into consideration the need for the economy to face competition on the internal and external markets, as well as support the development of scientific research and new technologies especially in agriculture.

IV. Agriculture

The free and democratic social and political order needs a developed, profitable and competitive agriculture.

Agricutlure, the food and fishing industry need to produce in sufficinet quantities good quality food and meet the demand on the local market on the account of internal resources.

The PCDPM cannot conceive of a viable agriculture without peasants being insured inviolability of property and equipment. The consequences of collectivisation and desinheriting of peasants are still felt in the poor state of the collectivist agriculture and the poor food supply of citizens in Moldova and other former communist countries.

Our party pleads for the legalization of private property of land as a way to re-launch agriculture and as a foundation of traditional moral values. We believe that the state should promote a policy of support of the peasant with advantageous credits. The financial indicators of such policy would be the follwoing:

• Building funds at national level to fund major agricultural objectives;
• Allocating part of these funds for the development of agriculture in less developed economic areas (as direct subsidies);
• Grants on the basis of these crediting funds in favorable conditions (with low interest rates and full coverage of invesmtent needs).

The premises for a banking policy on agricultural development should be the following:

• Organizing on principles of profitability some agricultural units (on family basis, i.e. individual peasant farms or associations);
• Organizing an informational system, specifically for the commercial agriculture, based on private property;
• Building and developing cooperative insurance associations of farmers with agricultural equipment for the processing and trading of agricultural produce;
• Increasing the randament of agricultural production and developing agriculture;
• Restructuring the agricultural production through increasing the share of the private livestock and fruit growing sectors;
• Generally developing the rural areas and avoiding transforming peasant farms into a basis for existence of the national economy.

Our party will support the creation of a general network of services in agriculture:

• The consulting office - the traditional agricultural chamber;
• The expertise and forecast office;
• Complex transportation and agricultural services;
• Services for trading the produce;
• The supply of seeds with high biological potential;
• Building a modern agricultural and food industry able to capitalize on domestic agricultural resources and render high profit rates.

V. The State and its Fundamental Values

The Constitution is the basis for a cohabitation of the citizens of this country in freedom, solidarity and justice. These fundamental values can only be translated into practice within a rule-of-law state founded on democracy and social justice. A democratic state, irrespective of its social order, is the institution of free, responsible and united people.

The authority of the state is founded on the respect for human dignity and the inalienable rights of its citizens. The duty of the state is to ensure the wellbeing of every citizen and of the society in general.

To fulfil this primordial task, the state needs to meet the following requirements:

• Protect citizens' rights and prevent power abuse;
• Preserve and further develop the order necessary to respect the cohabitation rules;
• Guarantee the diversity of social forces;
• Insure the conditions for the accomplishment of personality and support the individual's aspirations to take responsibility for achieving the common good;
• Support the weak, and guarantee permanent care after them;
• Contribute towards the achievement in the entire country of conditions for a life in dignity.

Democracy. In a democratic society the state power is derived from the powers delegated by the people. The state power is therefore obliged to act towards the wellbeing of its people.

This political order guarantees the participation of citizens in the affairs of the state and their liberty through the distribution and unification of forces. This order should be accessible to every citizen, since it will be accomplished only when every citizen participates actively and is ready to sacrifice for the cause.

Pluralism. A free and democratic society is pluralist by definition because it allows for different opinions, concpets and interests to confront each other in their struggle for state power, and propose solutions to the soceity according to their positions. Pluralism requires the debvelopment of democracy whereby the concepts and interests of the majority are respected in such a manner so that not to harm the position and concerns of the minority.

Rural areas. The center of rural life is the village. The PCDPM reagards as especially important the peasant society and culture, as well as the role of agriculture in the achievement of general wellbeing.

Living in a rural area does not necessarily mean giving up the modern civilizational benefits such as electricy, advanced home supplies, etc. For this reason we believe that the rural population should enjoy the same facilities as do those who modernize and renovate their lodgings in urban areas.

Private property. For the PCDPM the natural desire of the individual to own one or several houses is an important indicator of personal freedom. The opportunities of private ownership should be varied, not only through building new houses, but also through buying flats from the social lodging fund of the state. The sale by the state of lodging space has a double advantage. On the other hand, the state earns money which can be used to build new houses of poublic use, and, on the other hand, this will motivate owners to renovate and modernize their houses and flats.

VI. Social policy

The most important tasks of social policy targeted towards the wellbeing and propserity of the citizen are the following:

• The protection of the individual against poverty and hardships;
• Contingency compensations;
• The improvement of general living standards.

The main task of social policy is to improve the working and living conditions of workers.

Of the most serious perils threatening the nowadays Moldovan society are the depersonalisation and anonimity. Thus, although people live in more conglomeration now than ever, the number of lonely people is on rise:

• The number of those who need help, the elderly and the ill, is on rise, while the number of those willing to help is stable;
• Although social spending is increasing, new socially needy and marginalised groups are emerging;
• The desire by many, in particular the youth, to take on responsibilities that are beyond their material needs is great, yet, the opportunities to attain a meaningful life by helping others are usually unmet.

For these reasons the state should grant social services efficient help. The state needs to support the initiative of the people who can grant and organize the necessary help, as well as protect them against any harm. In our society the danger of handicap is high due to the physical and psychological overstrain, as well as the high risks of accidents at work and in the traffic. The disbaled live as a minority in a society which often disregards their problems and needs.

The state should offer all the disabled the chance to reintegrate professionally and socially, depending on their physical and psychological abilities.

Our party does not regard the disabled as "objects of care", but rather as partners within our common life in the society. They have to receive all the necessary help, which requires further development of preventive medicine, the promotion and encouragement of disabled children, the development of a special curriculum for these children and building special workshops, halls of residence and lodging facilities for the grown-up disabled. Also, we need to support the cohabitation between the disabled and healthy people at work and in the society.

The Elderly

The old age, just like all other ages, has both positive and negative peculiarities. A society is humane to the extent to which it ensures the elderly a normal life in conditions of respect of human rights. No society can give up the services and achievements of its elderly, their wisdom and experience, which is so much needed both in families and in the society in general. For this reason the elderly need to be given new opportunities for activity.

Health Assistance Policy

Health is one of the most important values in life. The opportunity to preserve one's health or to recover from sickness should be equally guranteed to all citizens irrespective of their financial situation, their social status or their place of residence. Patients need to be offered the choice of doctor and hospital, while doctors needs to be able to practice freely. The public health system needs to have sufficient space for development and self-administration. The technological progress in medical equipment provide the deaf new opportunities for recovery, which opportunities need to be equal for all. Under current circumstances the patients who are mentally ill are given less attention than other patients. This state of affairs needs to be done away with. It is necessary to create better living conditions for those suffering of chronical diseases and those who need permanent care.

Our party underlines the fact that the treatment with care and understanding towards the patient cannot be replaced by technical and medical equipment. Our policy regarding public health is one directed towards the prevention of diseases.

Our main points in this policy are the following: to support measures aimed at preserving health, to develop the preventive medicine, to protect the environement, and to develop the respobibility of every individual for his/her own health. The structure of the health protection system need to be further developed, taking account of economic factors.

The woman in society

The state and the society are founded on the joint work of men and women. For this reason the women need to fully participate in the political, economic and social lives. Women need to be insured their place in the society, a place that would correspond both to the fundamental principle of equality of rights and their abilities and desires to build their own lives. For this it is necessary for the cooperative relations between men and women to go beyond family life and be fully realised in the professional, social and political spheres. Women need to be able to choose freely the way to fulfill their personal aspirations within the family, in excercising a profession outside the family, and in combining professional activity with family life.

Environment protection

The preservation of the natural foundations of life is part of what our party calls "freedom and responsibility". Nowadays, those who exploit the natural resources irresponsibly producing environmental disbalances undermine the solidarity between generations and destroy the very foundation of the life of future generations. Still, the technical progress and the increase in the labor productivity are not in complete opposition with environment protection. The following can contribute to the preservation of the natural basis of life:

• Avoiding air pollutioning;
• Aoiding water pollutioning and limiting the pollution of the Black Sea, and the rivers Prut and Dniestr;
• Giving up technologies likely to induce climatic change;
• Protecting the nature and the individual against the effect of chemical and harmful subtsances;
• Reducing traffic noise and industrial activity, etc.

Education and Culture. The Right to Education

The future of every individual and the living conditions of the society largely depend on the quality of education.

This is an essential premise for the personal development of all. The aim of education is to help individuals to build freely and responsively their lives and find their place in their profession and in the society. Our policy on education and professional training is based on the principle of legal equality of all people, and takes account of the differences in intellectual capabilities and gifts of individuals.

Ethics and Religion

The school needs to help the youth to find a moral and religious support. The faith in God cannot be imposed on anyone. Yet at school the young can get answers to some moral and religious questions which bother them. Also at school they can be educated in teh spirit of moral and religious tolerance.

Knowledge of History

Education and learning need to form the historical conscience of the youth. Especially in Moldova, which passed through the tragic experience of the communist dictatorship that forged our history, the knowledge of historical truth is a primary need not only for pupils and students, but also for the grown-ups. The systematic learning of true hsitory helps create one's own capacity and pronounce value judgements about past events and facts, arise one's love of motherland without exagerated nationalism, and strengthen immunity towards various ideological lies.

Research and Higher Education

In the contemporary world a country needs to give every youngster the opportunity to acquire a profession to apply his/her qualities. Theoretical knowledge should be enhanced through an intensive practical training. In this sense our party pleads not only for the development of general education, but also the professional and crafts schools, where young students could acquire both theoretical and practical knowledge related to their chosen profession.

Every country needs a developed higher education and researh system. The PCDPM takes a decisive stand against the ideologisation of the higher education and research. These need to develop freely, have their own decision bodies (university senate), subordinated to relevant ministries, and with minimal coordination.

The freedom of research and teaching is the premise for a successful upbrigning of the intellectuals of tomorrow, and for approaching difficult research topics the success of which depends on the free competition of ideas.

Taking into account the need to develop not only fundamental research but also the applicative one, the PCDPM will support the establishment of private universities and research institutes. Thus, with the help of the capital of private investors the state will be relieved of some of the problems it is facing.

Churches and Religious Communities

The PCDPM promotes the independence and sovereignty of all cults and religious communities. We support their responsible contributuion to the achievement of the general good. Essential for us is to insure the freedom of faith, which has direct implications for the feeling of human freedom in general.

The right of churches and religious communities to solve autonomously their problems, as well as their right to freely manifest themselves in the society are inalienable rights. Our party aslo acknowledges the exceptional contribution of churches to helping the needy.

VII. The Principles of Foreign Policy

The fundamental principles of Moldova's foreign policy should be the following:

• Maintaining peace and freedom. A war is just only when it is meant to defend freedom and when all other means to keep peace have been useless;
• Territorial integrity. This refers to the integrity of the Repuiblic of Moldova and the abolishment of the so-called Transdnistrian republic;
• European unity;
• The respect for human rights, including minority rights.

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