Irina Revin
“We don’t need a ‘Moldovan Milei.’ We need a state that understands it exists for the people. It’s not a tribe where only a strictly elite upper class lives in comfort and luxury,” Irina Revin stated.
She emphasized that her own experience in business has taught her to value a free market economy, but that a state cannot be run like an ordinary corporation.
“The state is not a company. And the prime minister is not a CEO who can simply cut ‘expenses’ without considering who will be left behind by those cuts,” she added.
Balancing Reforms and Social Protection
Irina Revin agrees with the need to reduce bureaucracy, support entrepreneurship, and promote digitalization, citing the successful Moldova IT Park model as an example. However, she warns that reforms must not come at the expense of labor rights or the elimination of social protection.
In her view, liberalizing the Labor Code, overhauling the pension system, or raising utility rates without support mechanisms will leave the following groups vulnerable: people with disabilities; single mothers; the elderly; and rural residents.
In addition, she pointed out that a radical, “off-the-cuff” reduction in the public sector risks leaving local communities without doctors, teachers, and social workers.
From a Resource-Based Economy to a Technology-Driven One
Instead of shock therapy, the association’s head calls for a strategic reorientation of the national economy. In her view, it is time for Moldova to move beyond its fixation on being exclusively an agrarian country or a producer of raw materials and instead focus on technology, services, and intellectual property. In this regard, she highlighted the enormous but overlooked potential of local researchers.
“Hundreds of inventions—years of labor, patents, technical solutions, and ideas created by the most talented people, whom the state practically ignores—have been gathering dust on the shelves of the Academy of Sciences for years. We have scientists, engineers, and inventors—people who have created phenomenal things. But there’s a chasm between an invention and a product. There’s a gap between a patent and the market. And between research and exports lies that very “national black carpet with roses,” under which we sweep everything we don’t know how to capitalize on. Countries that have developed wisely did not treat inventions as nothing more than pretty framed diplomas. They turned them into products, licenses, companies, exports, partnerships, and new industries—perhaps small, but high-tech and valuable,” writes the expert.
On Fairness
Irina Revin concluded that a good prime minister must be able to assemble a strong team and demonstrate fairness, not just toughness in the face of cold, hard numbers.
“Moldova doesn’t need a local Milei with a symbolic chainsaw. Moldova needs a government capable of rooting out waste, corruption, and useless institutions, but one that doesn’t crack down on people who have no one to turn to for help. True reform isn’t about being tough. It lies in being fair,” Irina Revin concluded.
Earlier, Vasile Tofan, a senior partner and member of the investment committee at Horizon Capital, published a comprehensive document outlining his vision for the country’s economic development. He stated that Moldova is at a crossroads and that current resources have been exhausted, so the future government needs a leader with the profile of a “reformer-surgeon,” ready to implement tough and unpopular economic measures. “Saakashvili and Bendukidze were able to achieve results in Georgia under far worse circumstances, and Milei did so under virtually apocalyptic conditions in Argentina. This means it can be done in Moldova as well,” concluded Vasile Tofan.
