(Adnkronos) – The European Commission and Moldova have agreed on a two-year strategy for the country’s energy independence, with the aim of freeing it from Russian gas supplies, interrupted by Moscow due to the termination of the transit agreement in Ukraine, and fully integrating it into the European energy market. The total support package for 2025 amounts to 250 million euros. The EU executive announced this in a statement.
In the short term, the plan aims to support all families until 31 December 2025 with compensation for rising energy costs, with a maximum ceiling of 110 kWh per month. A specific fund will be set up to support the most vulnerable families and fully cover the increase in costs for social institutions such as schools and hospitals, and support of 15 million euros is also foreseen for agri-food and manufacturing companies.
For Transnistria, governed by a pro-Russian separatist authority, the EU is offering 60 million euros of energy support to the 350,000 inhabitants, but this aid is conditional on improvements in respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights and energy-intensive sectors are excluded from support. Yesterday the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that on Saturday the Russian state supplier Gazprom had resumed supplies of Russian gas to the region (but not to the whole of Moldova) specifying that the solution identified is only “a patch” for the short term.
In the long term, European funding should allow Moldova to invest in reforms and projects for the energy transition, favoring the complete abandonment of Russian supplies and strengthening its energy security. Part of the package will be used for energy efficiency projects for local authorities, households and SMEs.
The strategy is developed in three phases: the disbursement of 30 million euros for the purchase of emergency electricity and gas, already completed, and the sending of another 100 million in direct support to Moldovan consumers by mid-April 2025. The third phase, with a horizon of 2026, will finance structural interventions for energy independence, in line with Moldova’s Growth Plan and the EU accession path.
