The Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR) has submitted to Parliament a legislative proposal that would require the leadership of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) to include specialists with technical training in the energy field.

Normally, such a proposal would not pass the first votes, but in the current context, in which some PSD leaders, a party that has just left the government, have declared that they would form a common front with AUR for a new government, the proposal could have enough votes.

Here is what AUR claims:

In recent years, politically supported people, without real experience in energy, have arrived in the leadership structures of ANRE, although the institution makes important decisions for the electricity, natural gas and thermal energy markets in Romania.

The draft submitted by the AUR parliamentarians stipulates that at least two of the non-executive members of the Regulatory Committee must be graduates of technical faculties in fields such as energy engineering, electrical engineering or oil and gas. At the same time, the ANRE Advisory Council must also include members with specialized technical training.

AUR deputy Ionelia Priescu, initiator of the draft, argues that the National Energy Regulatory Authority must be professionalized, and strategic decisions in the energy sector can no longer be left in the hands of individuals appointed exclusively on political criteria.

“For years, ANRE’s governing bodies have been made up less of engineers, less of energy specialists and more of people appointed on political grounds. The result? A deprofessionalized, weakened and vulnerable authority. It is a known fact that ANRE and the energy sector suffer from a lack of specialists. Even European institutions have already drawn Romania’s attention to this fact and have asked us to separate politics from management,” said AUR deputy Ionelia Priescu.

Current legislation allows the appointment of people without technical training to an institution that establishes rules and tariffs with a direct impact on the energy system and on the bills paid by Romanians.

“Extreme politicization in the appointment of the administrative apparatus of an authority with a role in the energy sector is likely to create dangerous vulnerabilities for the security of the Romanian state,” the project’s explanatory memorandum states.

AUR argues that key state institutions must be led by people who know the field in which they make decisions, not by people appointed exclusively on political grounds. The project aims to increase professionalism within ANRE and reduce political influence on a strategic institution for Romania.