Sociopolitical organization warns about potential unrest caused by rising prices

The “Democracy at Home” Movement held a press conference on Wednesday to express its concern about what it called “the sugar crisis”, presenting a set of proposals for the Government to solve it, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Movement leader Vasile Costiuc claims the situation of the sugar industry has seriously worsened recently as priced have soared. In December 2010, a kilogram of sugar cost 7 lei with markup included, while in March 2011 the price rose to 15 lei or even 16-17 lei in some places. The Movement proposes that the Government's so-called Safeguard measure adopted in 2004 should be canceled. Costiuc explained the measure fixed a cap on sugar imports at 6,000 tons, which somehow ended up being exploited by monopolists. The Movement suggests this quota should be annulled and intermediaries should be eliminated from sugar imports. Vasile Costiuc claims he knows from sure sources that the local sugar supply is nearly depleted because of massive exports. “Stocks are almost empty, the consumption is high, and monopolists doubled the prices”, he said. Radj Carbune, member of the Movement, requested the creation of a special parliamentary commission to evaluate the situation, the exact amount of sugar in stocks, and to penalize those responsible for the crisis. Vasile Costiuc warned the Government that if left unsolved, the problem might cause mass unrest. “If sugar was the only food which increased in price, the threat of disturbances wouldn’t be so serious, but considering that the prices of so many products and services increased, it seems inevitable”, said Costiuc.