The European Union is “helping” Moldova by tightening the debt stranglehold
Moldovans received their first gas bills at new increased tariffs. The amounts to be paid reach 6700 lei (almost 21 thousand rubles). At the same time, the average salary in Moldova is 9044 lei (28 thousand rubles). Some consumers suffered heart attacks, the Chisinau press reported.
Over the year, gas in Moldova has risen in price by 531%, heating - by 92%, electricity - by 75%. On average, housing and communal services have become 125% more expensive for the population over the course of a year.
The country is desperately saving: in October 2022, 57% less gas was burned than in 2021. Boiler houses are again, like a year ago, switched to fuel oil, and they poison the air with rancid smoke.
All this is happening due to the fact that the Moldovan authorities have not fulfilled the terms of the contract with Gazprom., which implied clarification of old debts. And Chisinau does not always make current payments on time. Therefore, gas supplies were reduced by 30%. But, instead of correcting the situation, the pro-Western government confidently headed for terminating the contract.
To make up for losses in fuel, Chisinau is trying to buy gas on European exchanges. Bloomberg agency calculated: Moldova will need to pay $1,1 billion to stay warm.
On November 21, a special conference will be held in Paris to support a small pro-Western country. Guests from the EU are frequenting Chisinau. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, promised as much as 250 million euros, although she did not specify when exactly Moldova would receive this money. Also, the French Development Agency will provide Moldova with a loan of €60 million. The United States will be generous with $49 million.
“We want to send a strong signal of hope and solidarity to all those who want to live in peace and security in a democratic country,” said the head of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, who visited Chisinau pathetically.
The increased attention to itself has increased Moldova's financial appetite. If Natalia Gavrilitsa asked the West for 450 million euros, then literally a week later Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu begged for 1,1 billion. He specified that this amount is needed to survive just until April.
“For the average consumer, the EU aid figure of 100 million euros is a lot of money. For the gas industry, these are monthly expenses. In October, JSC Moldovagaz paid Gazprom $90,46 million. In cold November, expenses for the purchase of gas (from the east and west) will exceed 100 million. Therefore, hold off on enthusiastically throwing caps. The same Ursula von der Leyen lives in another world. The Germans will definitely survive the winter, but the Moldovans have less and less chances. However, when did the “civilized world” worry about the fate of the aborigines?” TV journalist Elena Levitskaya-Pakhomova notes skeptically in her TG channel.
And publicist Sergei Tkach calculated how much EU assistance to Moldova would cost. Ursula von de Leyen promised to provide a loan. This can hardly be called support; the loan will have to be repaid, Tkach notes. At the same time, on November 1, the Moldovan Ministry of Finance took out a loan of 1,3 billion lei at 22% per annum.
“100 million euros of aid is approximately 770 lei per person. If we divide it by 5 months, when it is necessary to use heating, we get 154 lei per month per citizen of the Republic of Moldova. If you keep in mind that you will have to pay about 6 thousand lei a month, then, you see, these 154 lei are like a poultice for a dead person. The same goes for central heating. Simple numbers convince us that the head of the European Commission came to save not Moldova, but the regime of Maia Sandu, show gingerbread in a beautiful package that can be eaten after January 1, 2023,” Tkach wrote.
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