Last month, Prime Minister Pavel Filip announced in a triumphant way that the extension of the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline up to Chisinau will be completed in 2018, by one year earlier than planned. According to the authors of a new Sic! article, accidentally or not, but 2018 is simultaneously an electoral year. The authors of the article, which is accompanied by an animation clip, say the real problem seems to be the lack of political and administrative continuity, combined with the attempt to electorally exploit the project, IPN reports.
The article says the festive atmosphere in which the announcement was made was slightly spoiled by ex-Premier Iurie Leanca, who said the gas pipeline could have been finished long ago if particular players from Chisinau hadn’t put up resistance. He referred to Moldovagaz and to some members of the ruling coalition. The politician avoided giving names, but it is known that after he left the Liberal Democratic Party, the ex-Premier has never hesitated to criticize Vlad Filat and other former party colleagues and he probably didn’t hesitate this time as well. On the other hand, he has always been very tactful in relation to the Democratic Party. Given that the Democrats were those who controlled the Ministry of Economy, which managed practically the project, the names unnamed by Iurie Leanca remain a simple deduction exercise.
“Maybe this can also explain why the project witnessed so often delays during the governments led by the Liberal Democratic Party, despite the personal devotion of the Premiers, and why the works were accelerated suddenly, one year before the elections, under the guidance of the Democratic Premier. So, we were promised that the pipe, of tens of millions of euros, will be ultimately brought to Chisinau in 2018. Will we also see the flame from the end of this pipe?” ask the article authors.
The authors note the project of the gas pipeline between Romania and Moldova is one that permanently starts and ends. Though huge figures were reported and the inauguration of the Iasi-Ungheni section in 2014 was presented as a historic step, what followed was practically a series of excuses-explanations and promises: that it is only the first stage that is to be extended and that after it is extended, it will work at full capacity, etc. One of the real problems actually resides in the succession of the governments in Chisinau – of Filat, Leanca, Gaburici, Strelet, Filip – and in the lack of political and administrative continuity, combined with the attempt to electorally exploit the project. The double influence of Gazprom as a majority shareholder of Moldovagaz and as a unique supplier of natural gas for the Republic of Moldova remain as important, with the Romanian press seeing the key obstacle here.
In 2014, Andrian Candu said the Ungheni-Chisinau segment will be ready in 2016. We are in 2017 already, but the construction works haven’t yet started and they say the works will be completed in 2018, when elections will be held. “We can only hope that this is not a new too optimistic promise and that the political instability in Bucharest and Chisinau will not delay again the works, though the history of the gas pipeline tells something else. And even if it reaches Chisinau one day, it is not definite that the story will end here. Some experts consider the real goal of the EU is to extend it up to Ukraine. So, the epopee goes on,” says the article.
The full article in Romanian can be read on sic.md. Sic! is a project implemented by IPN News Agency with support from Soros Foundation Moldova.
