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Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, the national leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL), said on Tuesday evening after a meeting of the PNL leadership that higher subsidies for the energy and natural gas prices than those currently in force are not possible considering the budget allocated for them.
He was asked by journalists if PNL is considering a regulated price for energy and natural gas and what could be a solution to step in in the electricity and gas market in such a way that the prices paid by the final consumer decrease.
"So far, ANRE [the national energy regulatory body] and the ministries that cover the subsidies for the energy and gas prices have received all the bills for the November-March interval. We still do not have a completed month, for example April, which should be the first month in which we have analysed the value of the subsidies under the new scheme; when we have this month completed we do the analysis and come up with a decision to adjust the energy price subsidies. (...) We are now going to apply the emergency ordinance for April 2022-March 2023 and when we have the actual data on a compensatory amount for an entire month, we will make a decision," Ciuca said at the PNL headquarters.
Asked if the government could come up with a new price reduction for energy and natural gas, that is, a higher level of subsidies, Ciuca said that is not possible considering the budget allocations.
"A reduction in the price more than it is now is not possible because we have to be honest and tell the people the truth. The budget is the one that we made public and this is the money we have to cover the subsidies for the energy and gas prices," said Ciuca.
Asked by journalists who in Romania will have to apply the decision taken at the level of the European Union regarding a voluntary 15% reduction in natural gas consumption, he replied that the decision must be seen as a voluntary one and that the Romanian population will not be affected in terms of natural gas supply, Agerpres.
"Please look at this as a voluntary decision, as you rightly called it. In the raft of measures that were taken at the level of the Ministry of Energy and by the natural gas producing companies, we currently have over 1.8 billion cubic metres of stored natural gas, which takes us far beyond the threshold we pledged on August 1, which was 46% - it was 57% on September 1. We have also exceeded the threshold we had to meet for September 1, which is why at this moment we continue to secure the demand for gas stored in our own storage facilities, and I can assure you that the population will not be affected in terms of gas security. And about the voluntary measure, since no clear technical elements have been established at the moment, nor when it becomes mandatory, I cannot comment on what we have to do. It is certain that when we have enough gas and when we discuss this attitude of all the member countries of the European Union to continue solidarity because of the context in which we find ourselves, we will adopt the same attitude in the future as well," said Ciuca.
He added that if the measure regarding the reduction of gas consumption by 15% becomes mandatory, it will be applied in a balanced way so that the activity of neither large consumers nor institutions is interrupted and mainly meet the population's natural gas demand.
