The Party of Action and Solidarity ( ro, Partidul Acțiune și Solidaritate, PAS) is a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

political party in Moldova Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

. The PAS was founded by

Maia Sandu Maia Sandu (; born 24 May 1972) is a Moldovan politician who has been the President of Moldova since 24 December 2020. She is the former leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) and former Prime Minister of Moldova from 8 June 2019 un ...

, the former Minister of Education and the incumbent

president of Moldova The President of the Republic of Moldova () is the head of state of Moldova. The current president is Maia Sandu, who assumed office on 24 December 2020. Duties and functions The office of the presidency in Moldova is largely ceremonial, w ...

. A

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Polit ...

party, it is an observer of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

(EPP) and the

International Democrat Union The International Democrat Union (IDU) is an international alliance of centre-right political parties. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the IDU consists of 84 full and associate members from 65 countries. It is chaired by Stephen Harper, ...

(IDU).

History

Formation

The party was created amid the 2015–2016 protests in Moldova and growing dissatisfaction with the ruling parties among citizens. On 23 December 2015,

posted a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

video in which she announced her intention to form a new

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

. Her stated reason for doing so was the creation of a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

party, that would function based on the principles of internal democracy and would be financed through small donations. Sandu was elected as leader of the PAS on 15 May 2016 and the party was officially registered by the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

on 26 May. At the time of registration, the party had 7,500 members and 20 local organizations. In February 2017, the party applied for membership of the

In coalition government: June 2019–November 2019

In the 2019 Moldovan parliamentary election, the PAS and the

Dignity and Truth Platform Party The Dignity and Truth Platform Party ( ro, Partidul Politic „Platforma Demnitate și Adevăr”, PPDA), stylized as Platforma DA or YES Platform, is a centre-right, Liberalism, liberal political party in Moldova promoting pro-Europeanism and ...

formed the NOW Platform electoral alliance, which gathered 26.8% of the votes. After the alliance split into two separate

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamentar ...

s, the PAS ended up with 15 seats. On 6 June, the Party announced that it was ready to form a coalition government with the pro-Russian

Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova The Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Partidul Socialiștilor din Republica Moldova; russian: Партия социалистов Республики Молдова, Partya sotsialistov Respubliki Moldova, PSRM) is a democra ...

(PSRM) with the goal of freeing state institutions, which in their opinion were under oligarchic control. After the coalition was formed, PSRM leader

Zinaida Greceanîi Zinaida Greceanîi (; born 7 February 1956Page on Greceanii at government website
.) is a ...

was elected as Speaker of the Parliament and the

Sandu Cabinet The Sandu Cabinet was a Cabinet of Moldova, led by Maia Sandu. History It was inaugurated on 8 June 2019, in the middle of the 2019 Moldovan constitutional crisis when the Constitutional Court of Moldova declared unconstitutional her designation ...

was inaugurated. Largely because of the significant ideological differences between the ruling parties, the government only lasted for five months and was ousted on 12 November after the PSRM and the

Democratic Party of Moldova The European Social Democratic Party ( ro, Partidul Social Democrat European, PSDE) is a centre-left, populist social-democratic political party in Moldova. Established in 1997, the party holds pro-European views, and is an associate member of th ...

voted in favor of a

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

In opposition: November 2019–July 2021

After the ousting of the Sandu cabinet, the PAS has been in

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...

. In the

2020 Moldovan presidential election Presidential elections were held in Moldova on 1 November. The fourth direct elections since independence in 1991, voters had the possibility to either elect a new president or re-elect the incumbent Igor Dodon. Because no candidate received a ma ...

, the party's candidate and leader Sandu was elected as

President of Moldova The President of the Republic of Moldova () is the head of state of Moldova. The current president is Maia Sandu, who assumed office on 24 December 2020. Duties and functions The office of the presidency in Moldova is largely ceremonial, w ...

. According to Moldovan law, the president cannot be a member of a political party which resulted in Sandu resigning from the office of party president and renouncing her party membership. Until the next party congress, the post of PAS president is held by first vice president

Igor Grosu Igor Grosu (born 30 November 1972) is a Moldovan politician who is the President of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova since 29 July 2021. He has been a member of the Moldovan Parliament since March 2019. Grosu has been the leader (at fir ...

on an interim basis.

In majority government: July 2021–present

The PAS won by a landslide during the 2021 Moldovan parliamentary election, earning them 63 seats in the parliament.

was elected the President of the Moldovan Parliament. On 6 August 2021,

Natalia Gavrilița Natalia Gavrilița (; born 21 September 1977) is a Moldovan economist and politician who has served as prime minister of Moldova since 2021. Gavrilița was previously proposed as prime minister by Maia Sandu in February 2021, but was rejected by ...

was voted by 61 MPs as the

Prime Minister of Moldova The Prime Minister of Moldova ( ro, Prim-ministrul Republicii Moldova) is Moldova's head of government. The Prime Minister is formally appointed by the President of Moldova and exercises executive power along with the cabinet, subject to parliam ...

and she became the second PAS Prime Minister of Moldova, after Maia Sandu (2019). In early 2022, the party will hold a leadership election and is also expected to nominate a candidate for the 2023 Chișinău mayoral elections.

Political positions

The PAS has been widely described as a

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

party that adheres to

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

social liberalism Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

, and

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

Economic policies

According to its program, the PAS supports the idea of an economy based on private initiative and is in favor of a significant reduction of bureaucracy in all stages of business. In the

campaign, the party's candidate Maia Sandu proposed raising the minimum pension to 2,000 lei (around 114

US dollars The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from Dollar, other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American ...

Foreign policy

A member of the

(EPP), the PAS supports membership of Moldova in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, establishing a strategic partnership with the United States, and maintaining a normal and non-confrontational relationship with Russia. The party supports strengthening Moldova's relationship with Romania but does not explicitly endorse the

unification of Romania and Moldova The unification of Moldova and Romania is a popular concept in the two countries that began in the late 1980s, during the Revolutions of 1989. The Romanian Revolution in 1989 and the independence of Moldova in 1991 further contributed to the ...

Leadership

– President; President of the Parliament *

– First Deputy President;

* Artur Mija – Secretary General; MP *

Mihai Popșoi Mihail (Mihai) Popșoi (born 10 March 1987) is a Moldovan politician and a member of the Moldovan Parliament since 24 February 2019. Since 8 June 2019 he has served as the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova. Since 10 Se ...

– Vice President; Deputy Speaker of the Parliament *

Sergiu Litvinenco Sergiu Litvinenco is a Moldovan politician. He serves as Minister of Justice in the cabinet of Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița Natalia Gavrilița (; born 21 September 1977) is a Moldovan economist and politician who has served as prime m ...

– Vice President;

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

* Andrei Spînu – Vice President; Deputy Prime Minister; Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development * Virgiliu Pîslariuc – Vice President; MP * Dan Perciun – Vice President; MP *

Liliana Nicolaescu-Onofrei Liliana Nicolaescu-Onofrei (born 6 November 1968) is a Moldovan politician. She served as Minister of Education, Culture and Research from 8 June 2019 to 14 November 2019 in the cabinet of Prime Minister Maia Sandu Maia Sandu (; born 24 Ma ...

– Vice President; MP *

Radu Marian Radu Marian (; born in 1977) is a Moldavian male soprano or sopranist. He possesses a pure soprano voice in the range of C4 to C6, and he is considered an important singer in Baroque music. His repertoire incorporates cantatas written for so ...

– Vice President; MP *

Olesea Stamate Olesea Stamate (born 20 December 1983) is a Moldovan politician. She served as Minister of Justice from 24 June 2019 to 14 November 2019. Fadei Nagacevschi was appointed as her successor. She has a bachelor's degree in law from Moldova State Uni ...

– Vice President; MP * Vladimir Bolea – Vice President; Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry * Ina Coșeru – Vice President; MP * Doina Gherman – Vice President; MP * Veronica Roșca – Vice President; MP * Ion Groza – Vice President; MP * Lilian Carp – Vice President; MP * Adrian Băluțel – Vice President; MP * Larisa Voloh – Vice President; MP

Election results

Chișinău mayoral elections

Chișinău Municipal Council elections

References

{{Moldovan political parties 2016 establishments in Moldova Liberal parties in Moldova Political parties established in 2016 Political parties in Moldova Pro-European political parties in Moldova