Moldova (bbabo.net), - The leader of the Party of Change again criticized Andrei Spinu, accusing him of incompetence and irresponsibility for the fact that Spinu agreed to the price calculation formula proposed by Moldovagaz, "Gazprom's branch in the Republic of Moldova". According to Stefan Gligor, the Moldovan delegation accepted all the conditions of the Russian side, without playing the "Transnistrian" card, which would provide Chisinau with a favorable price for gas, reports ipn.md
According to Gligor, now the Republic of Moldova pays for gas at an inflated purchase price due to the calculation formula, which is unprofitable for Moldova. “The price we pay is the result of the negotiations that have taken place. The delegation of the Republic of Moldova at these negotiations was very weak. Mr Spinu is not the kind of person who has the necessary experience, knowledge or training to conduct this type of negotiation. They tried to present this formula to us as a victory for the minister, which in itself sounds a bit provincial, since we are talking about the wallets of hundreds of thousands of people,” said Stefan Gligor in the studio of the program “Friday with Anatolie Golia” on the RTR Moldova TV channel.
“The formula that was adopted for the next 5 years is very volatile, it depends on the prices on the international market for oil products and gas. And the gas component is larger than the oil product component, since the price of gas in December reached $2,700. And when 30% of the formula is calculated based on the average gas price for the month, then a larger amount comes out compared to the oil component, despite the fact that the share of oil products in the formula is 70%,” added Stefan Gligor.
In his opinion, Russia would not leave Moldova without gas, given the complete dependence of the Transnistrian region on Russian gas. “The Republic of Moldova had a strong negotiating position, as there is a Transnistrian region that is completely dependent on Russian gas, for which it has not paid for decades. Why is this a strong negotiating position? Because the Moldavian Metallurgical Plant burns gas and melts metal, earning millions on this. The Cuchurgan power plant produces electricity, which it sells to the Republic of Moldova, but it does not pay for gas. Gas is sold very cheaply to citizens from the left bank, and this money, instead of being received by Tiraspoltransgaz and then transferred to Moldovagaz, goes to the budget of the Transnistrian region,” Gligor explained.
Former PCRM MP Alexandru Petcov also believes that the Republic of Moldova pays double the purchase price due to the recently changed calculation formula. “We would have received gas at a price that does not exceed $300 per thousand cubic meters, if the formula for calculating the price had not been changed. The formula was changed by Vadim Ceban (Chairman of Moldovagaz - ed. note) in December 2020, with the mediation of Dodon (then head of state Igor Dodon - ed. note), but subsequently it was supported by a government representative. The absolute unpreparedness of the Moldovan authorities for negotiations. You have all seen this photograph from the negotiations, in which only one of the nine negotiators was not from Gazprom, it was Spinu. The person speaks Russian very badly, he simply did not quite understand what was written there,” ex-deputy Petkov believes.
In January, the Republic of Moldova pays for gas at a purchase price of $646 per thousand cubic meters. At present, the gas tariff for end consumers, including VAT, is 11.08 lei. According to Moldovagaz representatives, if the purchase price remains above $600, it will be necessary to increase the tariff. According to calculations - up to 14.7 lei.
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