The authorities of Moldova should compensate the residents of the country for the costs of heating and electricity that they incurred in the winter, Marina Tauber, vice-chairman of the opposition Moldovan Shor party, said.
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Moldova is experiencing an energy crisis due to rising energy prices, the gas tariff for consumers has increased seven times over the past year, and four times for electricity since January 2022, and household water tariffs have more than doubled. Against this background, the Cabinet of Ministers introduced an austerity regime, and about 5 billion lei ($261 million) were allocated from the budget to compensate household consumers for gas, electricity and home heating. Against the backdrop of rising tariffs in Moldova, anti-government protests took place.
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“During the winter period, citizens significantly felt the burden of rising tariffs for heating and electricity. Therefore, as part of the “Movement for the People” campaign, there are calls for the authorities to compensate citizens for heating and electricity. We are convinced that the authorities have all the levers and finances for this. Both the ruling majority and the president announced that one billion euros came into the country in 2 years.In 2023 alone, the EU allocated 250 million euros, and earlier 300 million euros to improve energy security.According to our estimates, a quarter of these funds are enough for the state paid bills to the population for gas, heat, electricity for all three winter months,” Tauber said.
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The politician drew attention to the fact that the faction of the Shor party in parliament has repeatedly put forward legislative initiatives aimed at solving social problems, but the ruling Action and Solidarity Party (PDS) blocked all proposals.
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“Our legislative initiatives concerned both the increase and indexation of pensions and other social benefits. But the PDS ignored all our bills, it does not make contact with the opposition. Now pensions in the country are three times less than inflation, and utility costs are enormous. For example, many pensioners have a pension of less than 2,000 lei (about 100 euros), and gas bills are about 4,000-6,000 lei (about 200-400 euros), how can people survive in such a situation,” Tauber said.
