Moldova declares state of energy emergency

In the middle of winter, the energy deficit risks causing an inflationary shock in Moldova, the poorest country in Europe, and rekindling political tensions within a population divided between supporters of integration into the Union European Union (EU) and supports a return to the Russian orbit. The majority of the 101 deputies of the Moldovan Parliament voted on Friday, December 13, in favor of the state of emergency, which will come into force on December 16 and last sixty days.

A special commission will take measures, not specified at this stage, to manage the “imminent risks” in case Moscow stops supplying gas to the Kuchurgan power plant, the country's largest, located in the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria. Russian energy giant Gazprom supplies Kuchurgan, which covers 75% of Moldova's electricity needs. Transnistria, which separated from Moldova after a short war in 1992, also declared a state of emergency this week in case the region does not receive gas.

Moscow justifies the drastic reduction in its deliveries by a debt of 700 million dollars that Chisinau refuses to pay. This debt corresponds to gas consumed in Transnistria, where a contingent of the Russian army is stationed and the Moldovan government is demanding its departure.

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