European Energy Community worried about Moldova once again violating independence of energy regulator

Chisinau, 4 December /MOLDPRES/ - The European Energy Community (EEC) has described the parliament's decision on abrogation of the 2013 ruling on appointing to office of four directors of the Moldovan National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE) as violation of the independence of the energy regulatory authority. 

A press release placed on the ECC's official webpage says that the Parliament's decision came after the Regulator adopted distribution tariffs and increased supply prices for end-customers. It calls into question the commitment by the Republic of Moldova to reform the energy sector and respect the key principles of the Energy Community Treaty, the communique says. 

The Parliament's actions discredit an institution whose competences and independence are of utmost importance for the fair, transparent and efficient performance of the gas and electricity sectors in the country. This is the second time the Parliament dismissed the top management of the Regulator for purely political reasons after the dismissal of Director Victor Parlicov in July 2013, the press release also says.

The parliament decision from 2013, under which the ANRE directors were appointed, was cancelled with the votes of 50 lawmakers of the 63 ones present in the session hall. 

Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu said that all that meant the work of the ANRE Regulator and the energy market, in general, must go through a full revision and reformation. According to Candu, the cancellation of the appointment from 2013 "is an illegal juridical act and the effects might be very complicated, as along with that, it is presumed that all the acts they had adopted, all decisions taken by these people, by these four directors, should be cancelled."

Today, the parliament decision on abrogation of the act on appointment to office of the ANRE leadership was contested at the Constitutional Court. MPs Andrian Candu, Sergiu Sirbu and Stefan Creanga signed the notification.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor L. Alcaza)