The Government does not intend to ask Parliament to lift the state of emergency declared on October 22. Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu said the state of emergency will be most probably maintained until November 20 as economic and legal decisions need to be taken meanwhile. According to the official, the Commissions for Emergencies is to approve the reallocation of the state budget funds that Energocom didn’t spend when purchasing gas from alternative sources, IPN reports
Andrei Spînu said the state of emergency declared by Parliament is not a regime that limits the human rights and freedoms and it was needed for simplifying the allocation of state budget funds for procuring gas from alternative sources and for shortening the tendering period.
“It is for the first time in the country’s history that we bought such a large volume of gas from alternative sources, from companies operating in Poland, Ukraine and Switzerland. We already gained experience that should be put to good use in the future,” the official stated in the talk show “Moldova Live” on the public TV channel M1.
Andrei Spînu explained that the state of emergency needs to be maintained so as to approve the reallocation of funds or to abrogate decisions taken earlier.
“Currently, the gas supplies from Gazprom are enough for covering the needs of the right bank. No other tender contests will be held in the immediate period, but the state of emergency should be maintained. For example, the Commissions for Emergencies met today to abrogate decisions adopted earlier as these are no longer relevant. For instance, it was decided that Termoelectrica should switch back to gas from fuel oil during the next few days. We must see what quantity of fuel oil was used and what quantity will need to be bought for replenishing the state reserves. Over 300 million lei of the amount allocated to Energocom was spent, while the rest of the sum will be transferred back to the state budget,” said Andrei Spînu.
The state of emergency was instituted by Parliament for a 30-year period on October 22, at the Government’s request. This way, the Commissions for Emergencies was authorized to release 16,500 tonnes of fuel oil from the state reserves. Also, Energocom was allocated 1.7 billion lei from the state budget for purchasing natural gas at market prices.
