Slusari: The Government Is Obliged to Negotiate with Gazprom

The government should participate in negotiations on a new contract for the purchase of Russian gas and try to get a discount for the Republic of Moldova. This opinion was expressed by the former Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Alexandru Slusari in the Punctul pe AZi program on the TVRMoldova channel. Slusari criticized the decision of the authorities to leave negotiations with Gazprom to the discretion of MoldovaGaz. According to the politician, given that the Russian concern "Gazprom" owns 50% of the shares of MoldovaGaz, government representatives are obliged to participate in negotiations on a contract for the purchase of gas and to protect the interests of citizens of the Republic of Moldova. "Gazprom is now negotiating with Gazprom. A MoldovaGaz representative, even if he is a citizen of the Republic of Moldova, is a Gazprom representative. This is definitely the first conflict of interest. Moreover, Gazprom is a political stick fully controlled by the Kremlin. On the other hand, 35% of MoldovaGaz shares belong to the Government of the Republic of Moldova. Considering the whole situation, the Government is obliged to participate in negotiations with Gazprom. The President of the country shouldn't get involved in this matter, as Dodon did before. From an institutional point of view, it is the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova who should negotiate,” Alexandru Slusari said. Earlier, government officials said they would not negotiate with Gazprom on a new contract, which is the prerogative of MoldovaGaz. According to the law, 50% of the shares of MoldovaGaz belong to Gazprom, the Government of the Republic of Moldova owns 35.3% of the shares, and 13.4% belong to the region on the left bank of the Dniester.