This Thursday, November 10, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced an envelope of 250 million euros for Moldova during a lightning official visit to Chisinau. This financial package aims to help the former Soviet republic, neighboring Ukraine, to overcome the energy crisis it is going through.
With our special correspondent in Chisinau, Regis Gente
100 million euros in subsidies, as many loans. Plus 50 million to help the most vulnerable of the two and a half million Moldovan citizens. This is the financial package that Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, came to announce in Chisinau.
This decision is perceived in Chisinau as a means of putting pressure on the country, because of the pro-Western orientation of its government, which obtained at the end of June that Moldova officially becomes a candidate for the European Union.
Reduction of Gazprom deliveries by 50%
Politically, it is a question of helping this country, one of the poorest in Europe, to overcome the energy crisis caused by the decision of the Russian giant Gazprom to reduce its gas deliveries by 50%. This decision implies a sharp reduction in the electricity supplies received by Moldova from its breakaway region of Transnistria.
As a result, the gas and electricity bills of Moldovan citizens have multiplied several times, to the point of representing up to half of their salary. According to the Moldavian power, Moscow is using energy weapons to bring him down. This has been accompanied since September by protests funded by pro-Russian businessman Ilhan Shor.
►Also read: Threatened by the war in Ukraine, Moldova wants to break away from its dependence on Russian gas