A new protest to demand that the fuel prices should be decreased will be staged in the Great National Assembly Square of Chisinau on June 23, starting at 1pm. The participants in the protest will ask the authorities to take the necessary measures to eliminate the import duties on oil products. The demands were also included in a petition addressed to the Government and Parliament. This was presented in a news conference at IPN on June 21.
Protester Gheorghe Popa said the mechanism for calculating fuel price is to the consumers’ detriment. Exaggerated taxes on the import of oil products are imposed by the state. They say that if the excise duties are eliminated, a gap will appear in the state budget and money for pensions could not be collected. “What gap in the budget? Dear people, steal less or do not steal at all. We are ready to perform a budget audit and you will see how many gaps will be discovered now and where billions of lei goes,” stated Gheorghe Popa.
Protester Sergiu Bulgar said the protesters’ strategy will center on the informing of the people through a broad campaign at the local level, starting with the municipality of Chisinau. “I’m absolutely sure there is no person in Moldova who would not like the prices of oil products to be lower. We count a lot on the massive support of society,” he noted.
Another protester Aurel Bucureanu stated that 7 lei of the price of gasoline, which is of over 19 lei, represents excise duties and VAT. This is the money collected by the state. “For 27 years we have paid taxes and during all these years the state of the roads and our life didn’t improve. Nothing has improved in the country,” he said.
Sergiu Tiosa addressed the politicians, asking them how much a liter of gasoline should cost for money in the budget to be enough for roads, medicines, salaries and a decent future.
Alexei Frolkov said the rise in fuel prices affects not only the motorists, but everyone because these rises generate increases in the prices of products and services. Valeriu Chirca noted the people are tired of promises as they see no improvements.
The National Agent for Energy Regulation repeatedly announced higher fuel price ceilings, but its last two decisions were suspended, the first at the request of Prime Minister Pavel Filip, while the second by order of the court of law following a claim filed by the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure. The prices announced on May 15 are now used: 19.15 lei per liter of gasoline and 17.09 lei per liter of diesel fuel. Dissatisfied with the rises, the drivers, mobilized through social networking sites, mounted a number of protests.
