- His honesty and directness ("I am a Romanian. Not my decision; that's how my parents made me.")
- His willingness to put the good of the country ahead of himself and his party
- His humility and openness (long may it continue, hopefully power will not corrupt him)
- His managerial ability and business-like approach
- His temperance when faced with intemperate opposition
- His desire to improve the lot of the Moldovan people
- His resilience in the face of communist persecution from 2001 to 2009
- His pragmatism on relations with Russia (not that I necessarily agree with his views...)
- His sensible leadership of Chisinau in the very difficult economy of the late 1990s
- His decision to leave the communist party, which opened the door to democratic government
- His eloquent Romanian (or should that be Moldovan, at least politically?)
- His ability to toe a different line while (just) managing to keep the wheels on the AIE
- That he never quite managed to make Russian a national language
- That he failed to unite the country with Russia and Belarus
- That he stopped short of signing the Kozak memorandum
