Romania and the strategic industries
The European Union supports Romania in becoming a key player in new industries.
Daniela Budu, 10.01.2025, 13:50
The European Union supports Romania in becoming a key player in new industries.
Visiting Romania, as part of a European tour, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Stéphane Séjourné, responsible for industrial prosperity and strategy, promised to support important sectors of the local industry, from battery production to the steel sector. He announced that, next month, the European Commission will publish a strategic plan that will simplify the regulatory framework in the field of reindustrialization and will include all the issues of the battery sector, including decarbonization and the competitiveness of companies. He visited, together with the Minister of Economy, Bogdan Ivan, the Romanian factory “Prime Batteries Technology”, which produces state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries and customized energy storage systems.
The European official had meetings with the authorities in Bucharest and also visited the National Institute for Aerospace Research and Development, the main research center in the field of aerospace sciences in the country. In this context, he stated that Romania is one of the most industrialized states in Europe and that he will support the continuation of this process. “We need Romania in these moments of economic uncertainty and reindustrialization”, he said. In turn, Minister Bogdan Ivan emphasized the importance of this visit, as a clear message that the Union supports Romania in becoming a key player in new industries. Bogdan Ivan: “When we talk about the industrial development of Europe and reducing dependence on other continents, we talk about making the most of the resources that we have here, and Romania has huge resources of critical materials. It has, on the other hand, an extremely important geo-strategic position”.
The minister added that the focus will be on complementary projects between the EU member states, avoiding internal competition and aligning national objectives with the European vision. The value of the global battery market is estimated to double in the coming years, due to the increase in demand for lithium-ion batteries, considered the most efficient energy storage solutions for the automotive and energy industries. Currently, Europe depends significantly on imports of rare metals and, in terms of batteries, it produces much less than the market needs. To reduce this dependence, the European Union aims to become the second largest battery producer in the world, after China. As for the steel industry in Romania, the European official said that this is an essential sector for batteries, automobiles and wind energy, which is why it will be a priority topic of his upcoming visit to Bucharest.
