Iohannis: It would be excellent if EU money was in place for Romania’s nuclear energy and gas plans

 

"It's obvious that if we want to move towards a greener economy we need intermediate solutions. It is highly likely, and this is what we want, that renewable sources - solar energy, wind energy and so on - represent a considerable chunk of the country's energy output somewhere around 2040 - 2050. But we have to get there somehow and our opinion in Romania is that we must use nuclear power plants, upgrade these facilities and increase the share of nuclear power. We are determined and we have to use natural gas for heating, power generation and industry, therefore we definitely must have nuclear energy and gas. For this reason, it would be excellent and we insisted for these plans to be financed from European money, which would be reflected in what is called the European Commission's Delegated Act of the Taxonomy Regulation, in a more scientific formulation. I have strongly urged the Commission to come up with this delegated complementary act as soon as possible, already this autumn," the head of the state said before joining the European Council meeting.

 

Iohannis also stressed that Romania must use the Black Sea gas for the transition period and went on to note that, along with other European countries, France included, Romania advocates the inclusion of natural gas and nuclear energy in the "green" investments category of the so-called Taxonomy for sustainable finance.

 

The President also stated that the issue of energy prices in Romania has been settled for several months from now, adding that he asked in the European Council for a clear plan to be set out for this winter.

 

"Let us look into why prices have risen, what was done wrong, for these mistakes to not repeat and steps to be taken towards sustainable solutions, that is for identifying solutions to get these prices back to normal," Iohannis said.

 

President Klaus Iohannis is attending the European Council meeting in Brussels, which started on Thursday.