Protest held outside Moldovan parliament building against higher gas tariffs; parliament speaker demands solutions from opposition

More opposition parties have protested outside the parliament building during the  plenary meeting, expressing their dissatisfaction with a possible increase in natural gas tariffs. Among the parties that took part in the action, there were the Party of Socialists of Moldova (PSRM), Democracy at Home Party and Our Party.

The protesters called on the authorities to abandon the tariff increase and criticized the government’s energy policies. PSRM leader Igor Dodon said that the number of participants in the protest had grown compared to the action organized last week and called for the mobilization of a larger number of people.

“The gas tariff is set to be increased even this week. And if we do not stop this decision now, in the autumn, we will face another price hike. The only way out of the crisis is holding early parliamentary elections and changing the government,” said the PSRM leader.

Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu said that the final gas price is influenced by quotations on international markets, but that there are also internal costs on which the authorities can intervene.

“The price component depends on quotations on markets, on exchanges and the internal cost component is already our prerogative; this is where we can intervene,” the parliament speaker.

Grosu noted that the opposition has the right to protest, but should also present solutions to reduce costs in the gas sector. The speaker referred to a draft law on restructuring the company Moldovagaz and stressed that he is expecting proposals, including from opposition representatives who had previously worked at  this company.

“It is their right to protest, but they should not forget to come up with some proposals on how to restructure Moldovagaz. That is my first expectation. There are people in the opposition who worked at Moldovagaz, received salaries from Moldovagaz, some of them were on the Board of Directors of Moldovagaz. They know better how this institution works and how we can streamline it. I expect them to tell us what number is optimal to remain from 20 enterprises, for instance,” Grosu said.

The parliament speaker also rejected charges that the government had not taken measures to reduce the remuneration of the members of Moldovagaz’s Board of Directors. He specified that the state’s representatives on the Moldovagaz Board of Directors had already proposed reducing remunerations back in 2022, but the proposal was not supported by the other Board members.

At the same time, the parliament speaker said that the costs related to gas transportation and the activity of the transport company must also be analyzed, in order to identify possible optimization measures.

On July 15, Energocom submitted to ANRE (National Energy Regulatory Agency) a request to increase the natural gas tariff to 19.37 lei per cubic meter, excluding the value added tax (VAT). Subsequently, ANRE proposed a tariff of 18.79 lei per cubic meter, excluding VAT, compared to the current tariff of 13.35 lei. The final decision on the new tariff is to be adopted by ANRE’s Board of Directors.