The emergency state will be extended by 60 days on the territory of Moldova starting from 4 February 2023.
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The decision was approved with the votes of most MPs today. In parliament’s plenum, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita said that the effects of the war in Ukraine were felt in Moldova too, almost one year after its unleashing.
The PM noted that, due to the establishment and prolongation of the emergency state, the authorities had been able to act quickly and intervene, in order to manage the unprecedented challenges, which no governance had faced so far: energy crisis, interruption of logistic chains, threats against security and public order.
Also, the instructions adopted by the Commission for Emergency Situations (CSE) allowed receiving, in decent conditions, hundreds of thousands of people who fled the war and those who chose to remain in Moldova are further provided with conditions of living, labour and education.
„We used with much prudence the leverages provided by the legislation on the state of emergency. We regulated through CSE instructions only the cases in which we did not have other instruments available,’’ Natalia Gavrilita said.
She stressed that Moldova was not the only European state which had to resort to the emergency state.
The prime minister emphasized that, due to the actions undertaken through CSE, Moldova was presently less vulnerable to disconnections. In the context, Natalia Gavrilita referred to the short-term contract (monthly) for procurements of electric energy, concluded with the Kuchurgan Power Station.
‘’This was not an easy solution, but when we adopted it, we thought, first of all, about the well-being and energy security of the citizens. At the same time, due to the leverages provided by CSE, we managed to enhance the capacity of purchasing natural gas and electric energy by the Energocom stock company.’’
„Despite the apocalyptic scenarios which we heard in last autumn, Moldova did not freeze of cold and did not stay in darkness. We get out of this winter with dignity and more independent from the energy viewpoint,’’ the prime minister said.
Among the principal decisions approved by CSE, in order to ensure the well-being and safety of the people, there are the compensations for the gas invoices for citizens and business environment, providing additional assistance for the payment of utilities, in case of increase of the energy vulnerability degree, as well as the supply of stocks of wood mass.
Another CSE Instruction introduced the mechanism of monitoring of the activity of the private people and legal entities included in the list of USA’s sanctions.
„The extension of the emergency state will give us, in continuation, possibility to use the mechanisms created in such sectors as the country’s supply with electric energy and natural gas, management of eventual flows of refugees, ensuring the public order and security.
"There are many people wondering why we need state of emergency, if they do not feel that we are in emergency state.
"I want us to never feel that we are in a state of emergency. Through CSE, we protect the people from the consequences of the war and through the current work of the government, we do what we have promised: we edify, step by step, a modern European state, a rule of law state, with a resilient economy and modern administration. If the people do not feel the emergency state, this means that we have succeeded and that our approach was correct,’’ the prime minister stressed. ■
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