Romania must prepare for a winter and spring of very high electricity prices, warned Secretary of State at the Energy Ministry and former MEP Cristian Bu\u015foi. He said the country is facing its most difficult situation in decades in terms of its ability to meet electricity demand, as the reactors at the Cernavod\u0103 Nuclear Power Plant are not expected to be restarted until 15 October. The two reactors, which account for 20% of domestic electricity consumption, have been offline since 28 July and 13 August respectively, due to extremely low water levels in the Danube.<\/p>\n
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Cristian Bu\u015foi: “We are facing the most difficult and challenging situation in decades. The period of low Danube flows and low water levels near Cernavod\u0103 is having a major impact on the nuclear power plant. We still have both reactors offline. Every day that forces us to rely on imports may have an impact on prices, adding to the extremely difficult and worrying situation at European level, which is having a major impact on the competitiveness of Europe and Romania.”<\/p>\n
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Bu\u015foi also said that Romania is not currently in a position where it needs to impose restrictions on major industrial consumers, but warned that the country will be affected by rising electricity prices on the European market, where record levels are expected if the situation in the Middle East continues and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed as a result of the US-Iran conflict.<\/p>\n
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The secretary of state’s warning comes as electricity prices were also debated in the European Parliament, in the presence of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She focused her speech on the future EU budget for 2028-2034, particularly on energy. Von der Leyen said that one of the issues that EU heads of state and government will address at the European Council meeting scheduled for next week in Brussels is the price of energy, which continues to rise, and the measures the bloc needs to take to tackle the crisis. The European Commission president pointed out that funds have been allocated to help European companies and EU citizens cope with energy price increases caused by armed conflicts outside the European Union. She called for this support to be targeted and directed towards vulnerable families, who are most affected by rising prices. Von der Leyen cited France and Romania, which have provided energy vouchers to vulnerable people, and said this was a practice that should be followed across the EU.<\/p>\n
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MEPs, for their part, said Europe must produce the energy it needs itself and called on the European Commission to propose a windfall tax on the huge profits made by companies in the sector during this period. (EE)<\/p>\n
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