New laws in the energy sector

A hot topic this year, the energy sector stirred fierce debates in the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday, where two pieces of legislation were submitted to vote. The first one was a draft law on shutting down thermal power plants running on coal and another one on selling to Nuclearelectrica the uranium stocks made between 2009-2011.

The plan of progressive elimination of coal from the national energy mix by 2032, a stipulation included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, sparked heated debates that ended in the full rejection of all amendments tabled by the opposition. The Save Romania Union (USR) accused the PNL-PSD-UDMR ruling coalition that is closing down Romanian mines during an energy crisis, without replacing them with other energy producing capacieties. USR also reminded that there are 1.4 billion euros worth of European funds for this purpose, money which the Government has to attract. The Alliance for the Union of Romanians has also warned that mines should be kept open until an alternative is found.

In turn, the representatives of the ruling coalition argued that the disbursement of funds under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan depended precisely on the adoption of the draft law and gave assurances that emphasis was laid on the extension of the deadline for closing the mines and their replacement with green energy. Following negotiations between the Government and the European Commission, all these mines will have to closed not by 2023-2024 but by 2026, 2030 and, in some cases, 2032, according to the Social Democrat Alfred Simonis. The draft law was finally passed by the MPs and will have to be promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis.

The second law, on uranium, was also highly debated. Last year, the National Company of Uranium, which administrates of the uranium stocks, entered the liquidation procedure and the last uranium exploitation in Romania was closed. The leader of the AUR, George Simion: ”The purpose was the shutting down of the Crucea mine. People who worked there had to go pick up asparagus in Germany and we vote laws in commissions, in Parliament's plenary, because they are stipulated in the Recvery and Resilience Plan, stipulations that are impossible to observe and which do us harm. ”

On the other hand, the Liberal Dumitru Marculescu has explained: “The proposed measures contribute both to the smooth functioning of the nuclear power plant in Cernavoda as well as to the diminishing of the Romanian state's financial effort with security and the depositing of the uranium stocks, following the liquidation of the National Uranium Company”.  

This project has also been endorsed by the Chamber of Deputies and has been sent to the head of state for promulgation. (EE)