State of emergency to be prolonged by 60 days in Moldova

Chisinau, 6 October /MOLDPRES/ - The state of emergency will be extended for a period of 60 days in Moldova starting from 7 October 2022. The decision was approved with the votes of the majority of the lawmakers, at a request by the cabinet, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.  

In the parliament’s plenum, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita said that, for almost one year, the government had to work in an unprecedented context for Moldova, managing the risks dealing with the supply with energy and the crises triggered or fostered by the war in Ukraine.  

„There have been 12 months during which, day after day, we had to act as firemen called to extinguish fires, sometimes even more fires simultaneously. Yet, permanently, our vision was for the emergency state to represent and instrument for protecting the people and the national economy and not to restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms. Unfortunately, today we cannot say ‘’stop’’ to the emergency state and cannot return to the life from before 24 February. The emergency state, one which neither Moldova, nor Europe, nor the world has witnessed for decades, continues with major losses, beginning with lost or destroyed lives,’’ the PM said.     

The prime minister referred to the refugees’ crisis, the increase in prices for the basic products, interruption of logistic chains, jeopardizing of the food safety, threats to the security and public order. The PM also touched upon the threats to the energy infrastructure from Ukraine, the risks of the boosting of the hybrid-type actions which regard directly Moldova, as well as the risk of the full ceasing of the gas supply, given that Gazprom does not fulfill its obligations. ‘’These are elements which oblige us to have at our disposal the instruments necessary, in order to react quickly and efficiently to protect the national security, the lives of our citizens and of the people who took refuge from the hostilities,’’ Natalia Gavrilita also said.      

According to the prime minister, the authorities are preparing for the months to come and the Commission for Emergency Situations has already adopted several instructions, for the benefit of the citizens and economic agents, hit by the crisis in energy and the consequences of the war. Thus, premises were created for the purchasing and stocking of natural gas, crude oil, coal and wood and the Energocom stock company got the licence from the National Energy Regulatory Agency of Romania and can sell/buy natural gas on Romania’s market. We compensated the increase in the energy invoices and facilitated the access to fire wood, with the maintaining of the last year prices at the forest districts. 

Also, to reduce the economic consequences of the war, the trade markups on the basis food products was limited, the export of perishable agricultural products and the access of the native producers to markets and fairs was facilitated. To manage the flow of refugees, who looked for shelter in Moldova, the conditions of entrance into the country were simplified and the process of education, work and medical care was ensured. ‘’I emphasize that all these measures would not have been possible without the constitutional instrument of the emergency state, which we used, just as the citizens of this country saw, with moderation and good faith,’’ the PM added.   

At the same time, neither the war, nor the energy crisis prevented the authorities from announcing a string of social measures, among which the providing of the one-off assistance to the pensioners and public sector employees, increase in the minimum salary, of the allocations for children with the ages of up to two years, as well as the almost three-fold increase in the quantum of grants for the native business. At the same time, the capital investments in infrastructure have grown and the justice reform started. ‘’We were not contented to be only managers of crises, but were set to put Moldova on a way of deep transformations for the European integration – just as we promised the people. By working more, twice as much or thrice as much, we acted in parallel in both directions: the starting of the crucial reforms for Moldova’s European future and adoption of quick decisions in the conditions of the emergency state,’’ Natalia Gavrilita said.        

The prime minister stressed that the world following the war in Ukraine would be different from the one so far. Gavrilita also said that, in the long run, major changes would come as to the way the economy is to work, the way the energy will be used and the security will be guaranteed. ‘’I think that our moral duty is to be on the good side of the history and bequeath to our descendants a country part of the free world and which is prepared to cope with the social, economic and technological challenges of the next decades. Therefore, besides the request to approve the extension of the state of emergency, I call on all Moldovans to support the approach to reconstruct from the foundation Moldova, to bring their own contribution to the edification of a European future, a better, more prosperous one, in unity, solidarity and peace,’’ the prime minister said.  

The speech by PM Natalia Gavrilita may be accessed here: https://bit.ly/3e8XE1S

Photo: Government