Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova, hosted the fourth edition of the MEGA (Make Europe Great Again) event. Under the title “Moldova: Between East and West”, the new edition of MEGA was a meeting point for politicians, journalists and experts to discuss issues related to Moldovan politics, where general elections are held in September, the European Union or the values of European civilization, but the event was marked by the attempt of Maia Sandu’s government to prevent the conference.
One day before the start of the event, on Sunday, July 27, the Moldovan authorities decided that the event constituted a threat to “national security” and that the conference attendees had to be prevented from entering the country. At the Romanian border, the audiovisual team that was to record the entire event, a group of twelve people, was detained and sent back to Bucharest. But where this Soviet measure of the Moldovan government was to reach a surreal level was at the Chisinau airport. Czech MEP Ondrej Dostál, Greek MEP Dimos Thanasoulas and Filip Dewinter, vice-president of the Flemish Parliament, were separated from the rest of the passengers, put on a plane and expelled from Moldova. Dostál’s case is particularly serious because the border police took away his diplomatic passport for an hour without any explanation. The American Brian Brown, who in 2018 had been in Chisinau presiding over the World Congress of Families, was also detained upon arrival and had to spend the night in the airport’s deportation lounge while waiting for a plane to take him out of the country.
Protests were not long in coming, and several MEPs, such as the Croatian Stepjo Bartulica or the Polish Arkadiusz Mularczyk, demonstrated against this arbitrary decision of Maia Sandu’s government. After all, Moldova is a country aspiring to join the European Union and deporting European politicians, even if you do not share their views, does not seem the best way to present their candidacy. The U.S. embassy also took an interest in Brian Brown’s case, and the Moldovan authorities decided to back down on Monday morning. In a situation out of a Hollywood movie, the border police stopped the plane in which Brown was to be deported as it was about to take off, and told him that it had all been a mistake and that he could enter Moldova. The attempt to cancel the conference had failed, but Moldovan television published the news that the hotel where the event was being held had confirmed its cancellation.
The event began as planned, with a video message from AUR President George Simion from the Carpathian Mountains, as he is banned from entering Moldova. Simion pointed out that what had happened on Sunday was typical of a dictatorship that is supported by “the actual administration of the European Commission and Ursula von der Leyen” and reminded Moldovan citizens that “the only way to enter the EU and NATO is through union with Romania.” “Good luck to all the panelists, and I hope you will not be arrested for expressing your mind,” Simion concluded.
The first speaker to take the floor was Lord Martin Callanan, former chairman of the ECR Group and minister for Brexit. “Here in Moldova you are on the front line of Russian aggression and you can see its consequences in Transnistria,” said Callanan, who made a fiery defense of Ukraine’s sovereignty and its right to self-determination, “a fundamental conservative value,” and stressed the need to send more powerful means and weapons to defend Ukraine. “President Trump is now discovering how difficult it is to negotiate a lasting political settlement, because, as we all know, you can’t believe a word Putin says and you can’t trust any treaty he signs,” Canallan said, stressing the importance of sanctions and stopping buying Russian energy, “no more blood money for Putin and his war machine.”
The conferences addressed European issues such as security, defense of the family and traditional values, propaganda, Russian polarization and disinformation, the green pact, uncontrolled migration and loss of identity. And also local aspects, such as the conference “Moldova: Between Eastern Imperialism and Western Federalism”. Among the participants, it is worth mentioning the presence of several personalities such as the aforementioned Lord Martin Callanan and Brian Brown; Ariel Boulshtein, personal advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Lorenzo Bernasconi, advisor to the Italian Minister of Economy and Finance; former British MP Ian Liddell-Grainger and Ryszard Czarnecki, former vice-president of the European Parliament.
The last panel, in which I had the honor of participating, was moderated by Flemish Senator Johan Deckmyn and addressed such a complex topic as uncontrolled migration and loss of identity. The panel also included Tomasz Pysiak of the Schuman Thought Institute; Jana Zibulski, an AfD activist who ran a refugee reception center; analyst Jim Ferguson; and Moldovan politician Vlad Cubreacov. One focus of the debate was the use of migration as a weapon of hybrid warfare. The migration flows created from Belarus to Poland or from Russia to Finland are a very clear and well-known example of this, but the phenomenon also occurs in southern Europe. Let us recall what happened in Lampedusa when Giorgia Meloni became Prime Minister of Italy, or the situation in Spain, where many of the 37,000 prisoners amnestied in Morocco in the last five years, including more than fifty terrorists, have arrived in Spain through illegal immigration. In fact, that same afternoon, the Moroccan government announced a new release of 20,000 more prisoners. Understanding the nature of the problem is the first step to solving it.
Once the event was over, the participants were received by the mayor of Chisinau, Ion Ceban, who apologized on behalf of Moldovans for the behavior of his government and its attempts to “ban freedom of speech”. Ceban is the founder of the National Alternative Movement (MAN), a Europeanist center-left party founded in 2022 with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, after he left the Socialist Party (PSRM) because of the pro-Russian positioning of his former party. Ceban condemned the war and Russian aggression, stating that Moldova stands with Ukraine, its territorial integrity and sovereignty. In fact, his party took part in the May 2023 pro-European demonstration prompted by Maia Sandu and proposed signing an agreement, or “Chisinau Pact,” to build a political association with the goal of joining the European Union in 2030. Although his party is in the camp of European social democracy, Ceban has followed a conservative left-wing line, for example, blocking LGBT pride mobilizations in the city.
For AUR Senator and organizer of the event, Cristina Dumitrescu, the event was a resounding success: “They tried to stop this conference, but they didn’t succeed. Everyone present was impressed by the panels, the participants, the ideas… and I am convinced that they will come back to our next events. Whenever something is done for the good of the people, the initiative ends up being successful.”
The success of the MEGA event in Chisinau is an important victory for freedom of speech in the face of censorship which, taking advantage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and under the pretext that anyone who criticizes what Brussels is doing is pro-Russian, seeks to silence conservative or dissident voices. The next MEGA event will be next week in Warsaw, August 5-7, during the inauguration of the new conservative president Karol Nawrocki; La Voce del Patriota will be there to tell the story.
