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The Interministerial Energy Committee held today its first meeting under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca who called for an integrated approach at government level on the management of the energy crisis, the government said in a release.
This government structure is tasked with identifying solutions to limit the effects of rising energy prices in the short, medium and long term, as well as with monitoring the measures implemented so far by the government and their effects, Agerpres.ro informs.
"It is important to have an integrated government-wide approach to managing the energy crisis, so as to ensure a good understanding of both the problems facing household consumers and the economy, and of the response solutions. The government's goal is to mitigate as much as possible the effects of the growth in electricity and gas prices, in order to protect the citizens, keep the jobs and support the economic sectors," Nicolae Ciuca said.
During the meeting, the representatives of the Energy Ministry presented the situation of the electricity and gas bills in the light of the compensation and capping scheme established by the government.
Discussions also focused on the package to be implemented as of April 1, which complements the measures already approved and put into practice.
"130 million euros were allocated in December last year in order to support big energy consumers. The Energy Ministry is currently having consultations with EC representatives for the continuation of this form of financial aid, given that it has helped 15 of Romania's industries which provide direct and horizontal employment to over 100,000 people," the release states.
Attending the meeting on the government's behalf were Finance Minister Adrian Caciu, the government's Secretary General Marian Neacsu, representatives of the Energy and Economy Ministries, of the Prime Minister's Chancellery, and of the National Agency for Mineral Resources.
Other participants in the meeting were representatives of the Competition Council, the National Energy Regulatory Authority, the OPCOM national energy market administrator, the Romanian Commodity Exchange, as well as representatives of energy producers, transporters and suppliers, employers' and trade union confederations, associative structures and energy consumers.
