Moldovan society should understand that the Republic of Moldova is experiencing a serious energy crisis, but this crisis wasn’t caused by the Moldovan authorities, expert Igor Boțan stated in a public debate hosted by IPN. He said he is sure that the current government, with all the flaws it has, has the potential to learn and to meet people’s expectations. For the purpose, it should only remain firm with its policies as regards the European integration course of the Republic of Moldova.
“We all feel the reverberations of a global crisis that affects us. We have the right to reroutes this government to rule appropriately, to be open for communication with the people and other partners, to attract experts from outside, if it does not have such, to educate them. This is what they get money for from the state budget. The government should find resources, should borrow if it’s necessary so as to help the citizens as the crisis didn’t arise because the people do not want to pay a higher price for gas, but because they do not have resources. If they do not pay for gas, Moldovagaz will be unable to pay to Gazprom and Gazprom can halt the supply of gas, in accordance with the contract,” said the standing expert of IPN’s project.
According to Igor Boțan, Russia has its own interests. It does not want the EU and Europe, in general, to be united and therefore tries to divide through all the available instruments. It is doubtful whether Moldova should have made concessions for obtaining a more advantageous price of gas. “For example, Belarus has been in a major crisis for two years even if the gas price is low, but citizens’ freedoms there are destroyed. Kazakhstan is managed by an oligarchic family. Wants society in the Republic of Moldova be also managed by oligarchic clans? Or Russia with a regime that reduced the people’s freedoms and threatens everyone with its powers in order to maintain its strength. Moldova can choose to overcome this crisis united or to follow the path of speculations and make concessions, which would bring a much more dangerous imbalance for society,” said the expert.
Igor Boțan noted that no one knows how long this crisis will last. Everything depends on the expectations. “When the contract with Gazprom was signed by representatives of the current government, the expectations were relatively optimistic, but a global crisis is now experienced and the misunderstandings between the big players hit Moldova harshly. Borrowing money for covering the costs primarily of vulnerable families is the best solution for the Republic of Moldova in this situation. It should further associate itself clearly with the European Union and, together with the associated trio, should have appropriate talks so that the political costs are compensated by the mechanisms existing at the European level, with assistance for Moldova,” stated the expert.
He also said that the government’s communication with society has been defective during the crisis. Among the main problems faced during the crisis are actually the defective communication, the policies and the competence. “The opposition can criticize here and can even exaggerate by saying that the current government is incompetent, pursues incorrect policies and has improper communication.”
The public debate titled “Energy crisis as seen by government, opposition and society. Why does each of the parties behave as they do?” was the 222nd installment of the series “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates”. The project is implemented by IPN with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
