Romania risks losing billions of euros from the PNRR following the approval of the amendment on the closure of coal-fired capacities, an amendment recently voted in Parliament, with the Senate being the decision-making chamber, claim REPER officials, who are asking President Nicușor Dan to request a review of the law, and Parliament to “urgently repair this decision” – according to a statement consulted by Energynomics.
“The amendment conditions the closure of coal-fired power plants to the commissioning of energy capacities to replace them. Concern for the security of the energy system is legitimate. Romania needs alternative energy sources before giving up important production capacities. The government was already negotiating this issue with representatives of the European Commission, based on an analysis carried out by Transelectrica. However, PSD and AUR chose the populist and legally dangerous option: amending in Parliament a reform already validated and paid for through the PNRR”, say REPER officials.
“Minister Dragoș Pîslaru had warned that the intervention could be considered ‘reversibility’ of Milestone 114. Simply put, Romania risks sending the message that it is retroactively changing the rules after receiving the money. The consequences could mean blocking the next payment requests and losing important funding for hospitals, schools and infrastructure”, say REPER representatives.
They say that PSD and AUR are selling as patriotism a legislative improvisation that could leave Romania without billions of euros. They voted together on a “solution” that the Minister of Investments and European Projects warns could block the entire PNRR.
“Romania cannot try to “distort” the European Union money, collecting funds for reforms that it then cancels at will. PSD increasingly takes over AUR’s messages, embellishes them and rolls them through media areas to which the far right does not have direct access, thus giving them an appearance of respectability. The result remains the same: distrust, isolation and a bill of billions of euros paid by citizens. In relations with European partners, Bucharest’s political trickery has a much simpler name: broken commitments. Romania needs energy security, investments in new capacities and a realistic transition, technically negotiated with European partners. The parliamentary spectacle and electoral calculations can cost us dearly. President Nicușor Dan must request a review of the law, and Parliament must urgently correct this decision,” say REPER officials.
REPER’s point of view contradicts the official PSD position, which believes that “you don’t shut down what produces energy before you build something in its place. Any other approach is, in our opinion, a recipe for making Romania vulnerable,” according to the Facebook page of PSD deputy Marian Mina.
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