FreedomTeam Interview: Vladimir Gilca in Focus
Meet the newest member of the Freedom Team in the Project Office for Southeast Europe. Mr. Vladimir Gilca is the new Project Coordinator for Moldova, based in Chisinau. He has joined the Freedom team in June.
1. Please share a few words about yourself?
I studied International Relations and European Integration in Bucharest, Romania. During that time I started working in order to get career-related experience. I managed to obtain an internship at the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. This first experience helped me to understand better about what I wanted to do with my future. I continued with an internship at Foreign Policy Romania Magazine; I worked and started volunteering at several NGOs; I became interested in taking part in Model United Nations simulations. The big news came in 2014, when I won a scholarship at the German Bundestag and had the opportunity to work with a Member of the German Parliament. After this awesome and unique experience, I returned to my home country of Moldova and worked for the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the State Chancellery of the Republic of Moldova, at the Central public administration reform division. And then the next awesome experience started …
2. What have been your first impressions so far from your position in FNF?
I joined the Freedom Team at the beginning of June, as Project Coordinator for the Republic of Moldova in the Project Office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom for Southeast Europe.
My first impressions have been very good since the beginning. I knew the values and the activities promoted by FNF from my experience at the German Bundestag. Additionally, after meeting my new colleagues and starting to work, I felt even better. Promoting liberalism is not easy and simple, but it just feels great to do it.
3. What is most interesting and challenging about your new position in FNF?
I believe one of the most interesting and challenging things about being the Programme Coordinator of the FNF in Moldova is the chance to promote liberal values, democratic principles and the values of the European Union and thus, to help Moldovan people to have a better future. I know it sounds idealistic, but at such struggling times Moldova really needs more freedom and more liberalism in order to overcome its political, economic, social and geopolitical crisis.
4. Given your background so far, what and how would you contribute to the mission of FNF and pursuit of Freedom?
I believe the fact that I was born in Moldova, lived here, but studied and worked in Romania and then in Germany, gives me a unique perspective from both sides. On one side, in Berlin I got to know the German parliamentary system and the political decision-making processes. On the other side, working for NGOs, international organizations and institutions at the State Chancellery gave me first-hand experience of how things work and how other things need to be improved in Moldova.
5. Why is the promotion of Freedom important to you?
Because everything starts with freedom: There is no real choice without the freedom of choice; one cannot think freely without the freedom of thought and there are no free people, if there is no freedom. Everything starts with freedom and this is why we need to promote it.
6. What does the “F” of FNF mean to you?
It stands for three German words: “Freude, Faszination und Freundlichkeit’’ (English: happiness, fascination and friendliness), which are three words that describe the feeling of being free.
7. What is your Freedom message?
I like this wonderful quote from Nelson Mandela:
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.’’
You can meet the other members of the Freedom Team in East and Southeast Europe, featured in this interview series, here: