Moldova Facing an Energy Dilemma

Judging by what the country’s leadership stated yesterday, there are now two options for a final solution to the energy crisis - and each of them could have far-reaching consequences for Moldova  

Sergiu CEBAN, RTA: The intermediate phase of the energy crisis also seems to be coming to an end. Chisinau, together with Tiraspol, is close to securing gas supplies after 10 February and at least until the end of the heating season. This means that the country as a whole will finally be able to get out of the energy agenda that dominates the information field. Earlier this week, European Commissioner Marta Kos visited us to announce a new package of financial assistance to the people of Moldova, including the Transnistrian region. While for the right bank the funds are allocated to compensate for the sharp tariff hike, for the left bank everything is a bit more complicated and with political requirements. In order to receive the EU grant of 60 million euros for the purchase of energy resources, Tiraspol must fulfil a number of preconditions agreed with the constitutional authorities. We do not know what the chances of such a proposal are, but it was certainly worth a try. However, it seems to us that the very circumstances to ultimately push the left-bank authorities to the wall are not yet in place. Moreover, attempts to promote in this way the final resolution of the Transnistrian issue can always result in a counter-movement of other players in this process. It is crucial to take into account that, according to a number of signs, Washington and Moscow are in intensive contact on the ceasefire in Ukraine. Consequently, the new White House administration probably does not need an additional point of tension near its borders. Therefore, it was interesting to observe how yesterday the first persons of the state and deputies, having redistributed their roles, tried to appear the most rational and responsible politicians. All this looked like as a move to prepare public opinion for further development of events and adoption of somewhat different decisions than those expected from them. We can pay attention to the fact that, perhaps, for the first time, concrete figures were voiced as to how much it would cost us to reintegrate and further maintain Transnistria. Most likely, the point of this was to cool down a little the hotheads of those who perceived the energy crisis a chance for a quick reunification of the country. We were also told that, as it turns out, in addition to the option of purchasing gas with EU money, there is an option when the left bank will be allowed to independently purchase energy resources under its own responsibility. Moreover, according to Dorin Recean, if we do not approve the deal on the purchase of gas by Tiraspol with Russian funds, there is a risk that the right bank will be left without electricity, since at present the entire electricity logistics is organized through the MGRES. What is the bottom line? After it was decided not to purchase electricity from the Transnistrian power plant with funds from the European grant, the only thing that now still links the two banks in terms of energy is physical transit and supply of energy resources. If the direct connection lines with Romania are completed, Chisinau and Tiraspol will soon start living in two different models of energy supply, which, to put it mildly, weakens the chances of the constitutional authorities to turn the overall situation in their favor. Christian RUSSU, RTA: Yesterday, the country’s leadership shocked the public with reports about the prospects of the end of the energy crisis and the opportunities it opens up for the country’s unification. Almost synchronously, the President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of Parliament, as well as members of the ruling party and close experts, assured of the full support of the European Union and debunked the “myths of Kremlin propaganda”. The impression is that the voters, who did not properly appreciate all the merits and efforts of the current government in overcoming the next crisis, were firmly convinced of the opposite. After all, as public opinion polls showed recently, citizens are very dissatisfied with the methods and quality of PAS management. The main criterion of “efficiency”, no matter how banal, was the price of energy resources, which we are paying this winter. Citizens look with surprise at the tariffs across the Prut or in the warring Ukraine and throw up their hands. Against this background, no one takes objectively small compensations seriously. We have been told a lot that the only way out of our energy problems is to join Romania’s infrastructure in order to get rid of Russian dependence - even though we are neighbors of friendly Ukraine. We are taking out loans to build new high-voltage transmission lines, but we are paying more and more for electricity. The EU offers us help to buy energy resources from the European market, but this looks like outright usury. The authorities’ attempt to shift all the blame onto Russia and Putin is met with distrust and public fatigue, as are assurances that people on the left bank are even worse off. Our citizens clearly do not understand why they are the ones who have to pull this burden of geopolitical struggle with Russia for no clear reason. In addition, there are quite specific questions as to why injustice persists and why EU assistance is conditioned by incomprehensible clauses. For example, why should the surplus electricity from the MGRES, produced with EU funds, not be channelled to the right bank and, in general, why prevent Russian supplies to Transnistria, when the whole of Moldova can benefit from it? Yesterday, political tops answered meaningfully and pompously to all these fair questions that real help to our country can only come from the European Union. And we need a lot: tens of millions of euros to compensate high tariffs for the right bank until the end of the year, hundreds of millions for the maintenance of the impoverished population of Transnistria, which will lose income due to the cessation of enterprises’ operation. The latter is generally presented as a window of opportunity for a rapid reintegration, although it turns out that there is no money for it yet. This raises the question of what we will have as a result of the described scenario. There are no hopes to return competitive tariffs for our economic agents. The enterprises of the left bank will not see gas for European money at all. Getting a huge subsidized region with non-working industry, even with some kind of support from the EU, is a very dubious prospect for any government, which PAS understands perfectly well. This is why the statements by the President and the Prime Minister that market mechanisms will eventually prevail in the sphere of energy resources delivery are indicative, and suppliers can be different, including Russian ones, the main thing is that there should be sufficient volumes. How are we worse than the Slovaks or other Europeans in this respect? And in the end, all this information noise for the domestic audience can only be a screen for the actual agreement with any option of further gas supplies that would benefit the ruling regime.