Time passes quickly and erases politicians’ promises from our memory. It’s good that we have periodic elections. Respectively, once in four years we have the opportunity to remember the electoral promises of our officials. In the talk show “Fourth power” broadcast by N4 channel on November 22, 2019, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Iurie Leancă summed up the results of the joint meeting of the Governments of Moldova and Romania that was held in Bucharest the same day. The signing of a number of bilateral agreements in such areas as tourism, education and healthcare surely gladdens the citizens of the Republic of Moldova.

Evidently, attention was devoted to the strategic problems. Deputy Prime Minister Iurie Leancă heartened us in this regard too, saying: “Since January 1, 2020, I’m sure we will be able to purchase gas from Romania too.” However, after this statement we have to guess – is this a tangible perspective or an electoral promise? The dilemma is not invented as Iurie Leancă, serving as Prime Minister, on August 27, 2014 took part in the official launch of the construction of the Iaşi-Ungheni gas pipeline, alongside the then Premier of Romania Victor Ponta and European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger. Then, three weeks before the start of the parliamentary election campaign, Premier Leancă assured us that: “We commit ourselves and I’m convinced that in at most two years we will have all the elements needed to be able to purchase gas only from Romania, eventually if we ascertain at that stage that the prices are much more reasonable and I have reasons to believe it will be so”.

Four years passed and we are now again before the start of the parliamentary election campaign. It seems that we hear the same promise, but this is not so. Now we are told we will be able to purchase gas from Romania too as from January 1, 2020, while in 2014 we were told we will be able to purchase gas only from Romania as from 2016. We see that something changed in the less optimistic direction even if four years passed. We were then enthusiastic about the assurances made by Premier Iurie Leancă and this fired our imagination: “We now built the connection and can start to import, but we will have to build one more gas pipeline, Ungheni-Chisinau, while Romania will have to build two compressor stations so that we prepare technically for larger imports”. The strategic aspect of the gas pipeline was underscored by the assertion: “We will then be able to negotiate with Russia and to choose what’s best for Moldova”.

For the sake of truth, we should note that in 2018, before the parliamentary elections, the strategic problem of the Ungheni-Chișinău gas pipeline was brought into focus for the first time by Speaker of Parliament Andrian Candu. In the talk show “Place for dialogue” broadcast by Radio Moldova on August 7, Andrian Candu stated that “in August 2018 we will start to build the Ungheni-Chisinau segment of the Iași-Chisinau pipeline. We were glad – finally! Now there seems to be a correspondence between the then statements of Speaker Andrian Candu and the recent statements of Deputy Prime Minister Iurie Leancă. But three days before the Deputy Prime Minister made these statements, on November 19, we learned that the company Vestmoldtransgaz that was bought by the Romanian company Transgaz for over two months has been looking for a firm that would build the Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline. The tender contest announced for September 14 this year didn’t produce results. That’s why the deadline for submitting bids was extended until November 20 this year. We should yet remain optimistic. Things could have moved on and the optimistic statements made by Deputy Prime Minister Iurie Leancă on November 22 were based on knowledge of the capacities and potential of the firms that took part in the tender contest of November 20. Or we could have to wait for another electoral cycle for the strategic problem of the energy independence to be brought into public focus again. Anyway, the periodic elections are inevitable and we should comfort ourselves with the thought that “better late than never!”  

IPN Experts