Minister of Energy Victor Parlicov said that the Bashkan of Gagauzia, together with Ilan Shor, makes false promises that cannot be delivered. The announcement that gas will be supplied to the people of Gagauzia at a charge of 10 lei was aimed at stirring things up in society before the elections so as to get a higher score and also at provoking the authorities so as to later accuse them of the own failure, IPN reports.
“I think everyone realized that they do not intend and do not have capacity to supply gas to anyone as from December 1. Despite all the statements and fuss in the press, no application to replace the supplier was submitted, but this is a mandatory and necessary step for starting to supply gas. Respectively, what is being disseminated is only rumor and media noise. Gas wasn’t and will not be,” the minister told a news conference.
According to him, the natural gas market works according to clearly set rules. One of the rules is that one cannot supply gas to a particular region and to discriminate against the consumers. Those who say that they will supply gas at a charge of 10 lei mislead the population and speculate with a gas license.
“They say the gas will be 10 lei plus VAT for all the consumers. It is already 11 lei without VAT. They said the charge will be the same for all the consumers. Now they say that the public institutions will be supplied first. I want to tell you that the procedure in the case of public institutions is even more difficult because a public institution, to leave the regulated market, should go through competitive procurement procedures,” noted Victor Parlicov.
“It is essential for the people to realize what Shor aims to do. Shor wants us to become involved and to ban, block things so that he says that I wanted to supply gas at a rate of 10 lei, but this anti-people government stopped me. You can supply gas, man! I want everyone to see their incapacity to deliver gas. Later, we will bring things in order as regards the license conditions and the behavior of the market players.”
At the end of October, the Bashkan of Gagauzia Yevgenia Guțul announced that the inhabitants of the ATU Gagauzia will pay a preferential charge of 10 lei per cubic meter of natural gas. According to her, a Turkish company signed a contract with a large European trading company to buy gas directly from the European gas supply system. The Turkish company also signed a contract with a licensed operator from Moldova to supply this gas at a special price.
Minister of Energy Victor Parlicov said then that the contract for the supply of gas at the price of 10 lei which was published by the Bashkan of Gagauzia is false and cannot be implemented. He noted that those who really deal with the supply of gas do not work like this, do not issue press releases and do not publish contracts.
