The mayor of Chisinau leveled new criticism at the parliamentary majority and the Government led by Natalia Gavrilița. The Prime Minister said that the decision to apply the gas rates retroactively is perfectly legal, but Ceban considers retroiactivity in the case of rates is a deviation from the law. Moreover, the mayor describes the declaring of the state of emergency as fully inopportune and unjustified when PAS holds absolute power in the state. He said the decisions taken by the Commission for Extraordinary Situations could have been adopted transparently in Parliament, IPN reports.
Ion Ceban, together with deputy mayor Fadei Nagacevschi, yesterday challenged the National Agency for Energy Regulation’s decision to apply the higher gas rates retroactively in the Appeals Court. In reply, Premier Gavrilița said the municipality’s decision is an attempt to speculate politically on the energy crisis. She noted the decision is legal as it was taken during the state of emergency. The mayor of Chisinau insists that the decision is abusive.
“The Government declared a state of emergency in order to solve the problem related to the gas rates and to oblige the NAER to deal with this problem. The retroactive application of the gas rates is illegal as it the fact that they obliged the NAER that is an independent institution to do this. I haven’t seen good things to be done during their seven months in power,” Ion Ceban stated in a talk show on PrimeTV channel.
Ceban criticized the government for the poor management of the energy crisis, noting that the government makes mistake after mistake and the Prosecutor’s Office should investigate the legality of these decisions.
“In the election campaign, they told us that solutions to the problems will be provided, no matter what kind of problems are there. They have all the power in the state. No one in the Republic of Moldova had such representation at the level of state power. They now try to blame the Russians, Gazprom, Ceban, Plahotniuc. You cannot just point the finger at the existing problem that cannot be solved. If you do not want to become involved, it is something else. The purchase of gas from Poland and the Netherlands is another issue that should be investigated criminally, as should be the allocation of financial resources to Energocom that is a case of influence peddling,” stated Ion Ceban.
The NAER decided to increase the natural gas rates from 11.08 lei to 15.18 lei with VAT included. The new rates will be applied as from January 1, 2022.
