Over 95% of Romanians want to expand state-funded gas networks, which means that people support the current government’s policy of allocating funds to these investments, Energy Minister Virgil Popescu said on Tuesday.
He attended the launch of the third edition of the Energy Security Barometer, by the Institute of Political Science and International Relations “Ion IC Brătianu” of the Romanian Academy (ISPRI) and the Laboratory of Information Warfare Analysis and Strategic Communication (LARICS), based on a survey conducted by INSCOP Research in collaboration with the Strategic Thinking Group.
According to the survey, an overwhelming majority, respectively 95.8% of respondents, agree that the state should financially support the expansion of the natural gas distribution network in Romania, even if it involves large investments, according to Agerpres.
“I am glad that our policies, started a year or so ago, benefit from the support of the population. What makes me very happy is that the perception of Romanians shows that there is a need to develop natural gas networks without fear that there is a possibility that imports grow and we become dependent of Russian gas imports.
I want to believe that with the policy we have in this area, to continue to finance natural gas, even if mixed with hydrogen, we are on the right track,” he said.
Popescu added that, last Friday, at the EU Council of Ministers, our country obtained the inclusion in the European regulation of smart gas networks mixed with hydrogen.
“On Friday, at the Lisbon Council of Ministers, we managed to amend the Energy and Gas Transmission Regulation, to have the Member States recognize the European gas and hydrogen transmission networks and what we proposed in the PNRR, those gas and hydrogen transport, to be recognized in the European regulation, as well as the production of hydrogen not only from renewable sources, but also from low-carbon sources, such as from nuclear energy. So we practically succeeded for Romania to impose its strategic interests in the Council of ministers,” the government official said.
