The Coalition for Unity and Welfare (CUB) calls on the government to perform an audit of the energy purchases made in 2022 and to present a report on the sums allocated in 2021-2023 to compensate the energy charges, IPN reports.
In a news conference, CUB chairman Igor Munteanu criticized the decision to classify the amounts and prices of gas bought in 2022 on the pretext of being strategic supplies and therefor “a state secret”. “A significant part of the gas remains stored in reservoirs in Ukraine and their prohibitive costs against the current gas prices are introduced in charges that the citizens of the Republic of Moldova continue paying even if the alternative is close, on the free Europeans market,” says a press release issued by the CUB.
The party said that when there are 20 licensed companies authorized to operate on the natural gas market, the Republic of Moldova could have purchased three times more gas with the EBRD loan if the state-run company Energocom had used the European trading platforms and the consumers today would have paid less than 20 lei/m3, not 29.7 lei, while the Government wouldn’t have been preoccupied with the fast consumption of the gas purchased at the highest spot market prices in summer, if it had bought the same gas on the free market, for the benefit of the citizens.
The party noted that the national economy suffered a powerful shock owing to the way in which the energy crisis was managed, with serious effects on free competition and the access to foreign markets. According to estimates provided by international independent experts, the losses suffered by the Republic of Moldova due to the erroneous decisions related to the spending of the EBRD loan amount to about €72 million or approximately 25% of all the money contracted by the Government led by Natalia Gavriliță. The CUB considers the Government’s actions to redirect the money from investments and payments to salaries and compensations for charges are very painful for the real economy.
The CUB demands that the Competition Council and the Consumer Protection Agency should restore the legality of the decisions taken in the field of energy security the last few years, helping this way to protect the interests of consumers.
