The connection between the Suspension of USAID funding and the less seen problems. “We will need to take money that could go to pensions and salaries”
In Eastern Europe, the rhetoric against USAID was supported on the idea that “these funds went to progressives”. In the Republic of Moldova, say the ones there, the USAID funds concerned infrastructure projects. For them to be continued, the money will now come from the state budget, “that is, from the same place where pensions and salaries come.”
The decision of the Trump administration to liquidate USAID and to suspend the financing, respectively, hit the field of infrastructure and the energy in the Republic of Moldova.
This is supported by both representatives of the Chisinau authorities and several experts who are still in the process of impact assessment.
One of the stopped projects is a multifunctional sports base in the village of Sărătenii Vechi, Telenești district, Republic of Moldova. There live 2,928 people. According to the project, the land was to be equipped with a modern lighting system, to include a football field, volleyball, field tennis, mini-basket and runway. The project was to be supported by the program “My Community”, funded by USAID.
“The file for the construction of this multifunctional center was elaborated in 2022. The idea came as a result of the requests of the young people in the locality. I did a survey in the locality with questionnaires, where, again, the project was in the first place,” explained for HotNews.ro the mayor of the locality, Veronica Cupcea.
Almost 300,000 euros
“In 2024, the project was updated-both the technical project and the motto-and the total cost of the works was to be 5,800,000 lei (300 thousand euros-no). (10.2 thousand euros – no).
These were the calculations. Then the global suspension of the USAID was announced. “In March we received the letter already regarding the termination of the contract. And, here, with regret, we also announced those from the Diaspora and the citizens of the commune, who wanted this land very much, we announced that we have no possibility and we will try to look for other funders. We do not give up anyway.
Water distribution, also affected
Another project, affected by the decision to suspend the financing, was the extension of the water distribution networks by almost three kilometers in the village of Balatina, the Glodeni district, in the Republic of Moldova.
It was to be financed also within the program “my community” by USAID, the total amount being 1.3 million lei (66.2 thousand euros – no). The building permit was issued in September 2023, the works were completed until the decision to suspend the financing, only that the entrepreneur has not even been able to receive the money for the work done. The mayor of Dumitru Iațuc told Hotnews that the subject is in question and solutions are being sought to pay with the entrepreneur.
Andrei Curararu: “Over 95% of the projects coming from USAID were infrastructure”
The expert in public policies from the Watchdog community, Andrei Cureraru, explains that in the case of the Republic of Moldova, the Decision of the Trump administration has hit largely in the field of infrastructure.
“First of all, I looked at the last three years, over 95% of the projects coming from Usaid were infrastructure,” explained Andrei Curararu.
“There was money that were invested, first of all, this is, according to me, the biggest tragedy – in the ability to store green energy in the Republic of Moldova. What does this mean? We can produce a lot of energy, but most of it is solar, that is, the day you produce a lot, at night you have to store it somewhere so you can reuse, we do not have something to do, to sell it.
“This helps us. It helps us. It has reached the acquisition phase, and before the acquisition the administration intervened and stopped this fact. For us this is a key element, because we do not want to run out of electricity in the next winter or, who knows what situation will be with the supplies of electricity to the Republic of Moldova.
The battery -related project
We specify, on January 16, the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Moldova, announced the launch of the acquisition process of an energy storage system (Bess). The system was to have a capacity of 75 MW, as well as internal combustion engines (ICE) with a capacity of 22 MW. The works were planned to be completed by the end of September 2026.
“The purchase aims to improve the reliability of electrical networks in the Republic of Moldova, facilitating electricity trade with Romania, Ukraine and the European market, and will support the integration of renewable energy produced,” he had announced in the statement.
This project was to be implemented due to $ 85 million funding granted by the United States government through USAID. The announcement was made during the visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Chisinau, in May 2024, and is part of the total aid of over $ 300 million allocated by the US to strengthen the energy security of the Republic of Moldova within the Initiative #Moldovaconected.
Investment in justice and vital sites
“The second large element was the financing of the justice reform, that is, the entire Veting and Pre-Veting Commission was funded by the USAID. Now it has been financing from the European Union. The third element is digitization: better services for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova. For example, to order a record if you need it online.”
“And when attacking, for example, the CEC's website (central electoral commission in the Republic of Moldova-no) and there were attacks on the CEC site in the last elections, he to resist. We have some more efficient options to defend us from cyber attacks. Less than 5% went to NGOs, to the independent press,” the expert Watchdog Andrei Hotnews explained.
“We will need to take money that could go to pensions and salaries and create, for example, those electricity storage capacities, because we talk about critical infrastructure. And those who enjoy the USAID from the Republic of Moldova, in fact, is glad that we will have to spend more money on our projects. Estimated.
MP Radu Marian: “There were clear and supportive messages from these American officials”
The Minister of Justice of the Republic of Moldova, Veronica Mihailov-Moraru, has previously announced that the process of evaluating the assessment and integrity of the prosecutors, funded through USAID, was suspended for a few weeks, but was later resumed, due to financing
European Commission. According to some information, USAID spent over 43 million lei only for the secretariat of the Veting Commission.
The chairman of the Economy Commission of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, Radu Marian, explained for Hotnews that the resumption of financing through USAID was discussed during the visit of the American Delegation to Chisinau.
“The atmosphere was a friendly one. They assured us that they continue to support the Republic of Moldova, our European path, the steps towards strengthening democracy. Both in the Republic of Moldova and in the region, there is an absolute consensus,” said Radu Marian.
“Obviously we told them about USAID projects and US government projects, how important they were for our industries, for economy, including tourism and so on. Obviously they promised that they will send this to the executive administration, and that this would help us in the future stages. There were clear and supporting messages from these American officials.”
“In the field of energy they have different funding, and the US government was extremely important to overcome the energy blackmail of the Russian Federation. Again, they will take this information at home. They said it is very, very useful to understand how important these projects are, and we will already see how things will go on.”
“In general, the development projects of the US Government focus on major projects, such as the energy ones. From what I know, there were many projects in the economic sphere, including in the tourism industry, very, many, and the companies have managed to become competitive due to this support during these decades,” Radu Marian said in the dialogue.
In total, according to the data of the Chisinau authorities, since 1992, the United States has provided the Republic of Moldova worth $ 2.7 billion for several sectors, such as winemaking, textiles, energy, tourism, agriculture, infrastructure, IT.
