The state of emergency declared by Parliament is a legal regime that will not affect the life of citizens. Such a move was needed in order to offer the Commission on Emergencies powers to swiftly resolve the energy crisis, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița stated in a program on the public TV channel. According to the Premier, the Republic of Moldova cannot accept the price asked by Russia at present as this is similar to the market price, IPN reports.
Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița said that following the declaring of the state of eminency, the Republic of Moldova starts to purchase gas from alternative sources. This is a first step towards the country’s energy independence. The conditions imposed by Russia at present are unacceptable.
“Currently, we pay US$790 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas to the Russian Federation. We are not being offered another price than the market one. This price is even higher than some of the alternatives we identified the past few weeks. We will start to purchase small volumes so as to stabilize the pressure in pipes. For the first time we will buy natural gas from alternative sources. This is very good for the country’s energy security. We must help the residential consumers and businesses to pass winter. We will compensate a part of the price rise and can later return to the normal prices we had in the past,” Natalia Gavrilița stated in the talk show “Good Evening” on M1 channel.
The Premier said that together with the declaring of the state of emergency, Energocom was mandated to immediately purchase natural gas given that the pressure in the natural gas networks decreased considerably the past few days.
“On Thursday, we had a critical level of 15.5 bars. At the start of the month, the pressure was low, but we received quantities of gas from Ukraine and Romania and these helped us maintain the pressure. But we have been on the alert since October 13. We now declared a state of emergency so as to be able to purchase natural gas from alternative sources. It is a very limited technical regime that does not infringe on rights or freedoms and does not impose restrictions. It is a strictly legal regime that enables to take swift decisions,” stated Natalia Gavrilița.
On October 22, Parliament declared a state of emergency for a 30-day period. The special regime instituted in the Republic of Moldova will not hamper the holding of the new local elections set to take place in a number of settlements on November 21.
