The National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum: ”We condemn the Russian Federation’s energy blackmail and call on the Moldovan Government and development partners to diversify natural gas supplies”

The member organizations of the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum follow with concern the developments regarding the negotiation with Gazprom on the supply of natural gas to Moldova and consider inadmissible the “delay of the negotiation process by Gazprom” and “the intentional perpetuation of uncertainty on the delivery of natural gas.”

In this regard, 36 organizations signed a statement calling on the Moldovan authorities not to accept any political conditionality with the Russian side and in case the delivery of gas by Gazprom will not be accepted under the previous conditions, to boost the identification process of alternative sources through Energocom from traders operating on international exchanges.

“The behavior of the Russian side shows all the signs of blackmail because the delay has no economic or technical motivation,” the statement said.

Currently, Moldova is ready in terms of infrastructure to import natural gas through the pipelines from the south, north, west, and east, say the representatives of the organizations.

“We consider that Moldova has all the prerequisites to examine a multitude of other options for providing Moldova with natural gas, given, in particular, the Iași-Ungheni gas pipeline and ensuring the reverse through the Isaccea pipeline, but also the traditional routes in the east and north of the country. Even if alternative sources of natural gas will be more expensive, the price of possible political conditionalities in relation to the Gazprom / Russian Federation may be immeasurably higher than the prices set on international stock exchanges. At the same time, the social impact of the increase in tariffs for consumers can be mitigated by targeted compensation measures for the socially vulnerable,” the statement added.

In this context, the 36 organizations call on the development partners of Moldova to provide financial, technical, and political support in order to support Moldova in the process of consolidating the country’s energy security. At the same time, they call on the entire population of Moldova to show responsibility in the rational use of natural gas and to understand that the situation created is induced by two major factors over which Moldova has no influence: “very high gas prices on the international market and political blackmail from Gazprom / Russian Federation.”