Natalia Gavrilița

Natalia Gavrilița served as the 15th Prime Minister of Moldova between August 2021 and February 2023. She led the Government through multiple overlapping crises caused by the war in neighbouring Ukraine, while also advancing ambitious anti-corruption, economic, and governance reforms. During her time in office, Moldova received the largest influx of Ukrainian refugees of any European country, managed to diversify its energy market away from Russian gas, and became a candidate country to the European Union. Gavrilița is first Deputy Chairwoman of the pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) and has had a long history in economics and politics. She served as finance minister from June 2019 to November 2019 when President Maia Sandu was Prime Minister. Earlier in her career, she was Managing Director at the London-based Global Innovation Fund, a hybrid investment fund supporting social innovation in developing countries. She has also worked within the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Economy and for Oxford Policy Management. Throughout her career, she has worked in a number of countries across Africa, Central and South Asia. Gavrilița graduated from Moldova State University with a bachelor’s degree in International Law and also earned a master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University.

Natalia Gavrilița, who was until recently prime minister of Moldova, appeared at BNR Perestrojkast in The Netherlands to give an early preview of the EPC Summit in Moldova, what Europe means to her country and how her pro-European government tried last winter and spring to deal with an unexpected cascade of crises and rising tensions caused by Russia in Ukraine and (pro-)Russian forces in her country. 'Odesa is just 60 kilometers away, but right now we are more afraid of hybrid warfare'. This interview is mostly unedited and published in its entirety. Host: Geert Jan Hahn Special Guest: Natalia Gavrilița BNR Perestrojkast is the one and only podcast in The Netherlands about Central and Eastern Europe, hosted by former correspondents in the region and currently roaming reporters Floris Akkerman and Geert Jan Hahn. Each episode (mainly in Dutch) delves into the complexities of the war in Ukraine, the relation to the EU, the United States, Russia or China and addresses some of the acute problems in the countries itself. Former guests were a.o. Vitaliy Klichko, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, Edi Rama and Nino Haraatischwili. Natalia Gavrilița was tot voor kort premier van Moldavië. Eind februari diende zij haar ontslag in, nadat haar regering te maken kreeg met grote protesten - naar eigen zeggen geinitiëerd door vele Russische destabilisatiepogingen. In BNR Perestrojkast blikt zij vooruit op de aankomende Europese Politieke Gemeenschap in Moldavië, beschrijft zij wat Europa betekent voor haar en haar land en vertelt ze meer over hoe een nieuwe premier nodig was om niet meer uit te stralen dat zij een regering in crisis leidde. En dan ligt Oekraïne ook nog eens om de hoek. Maar: 'Wij zijn momenteel bedachtzamer op een hybride oorlog met Rusland en Russische krachten dan op een fysieke oorlog.' Dit interview is in het Engels gehouden en bijna in zijn volledigheid online gezet, voor iedereen die geïnteresseerd is in Moldavië en het verhaal van Gavrilița. Voor de meeste luisteraars van de Perestrojkast dient dit interview als een aanvulling op aflevering #178 . Geert Jan Hahn Speciale gast: Natalia Gavrilița See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.