The Romanian president explained at the end of the European Council meeting in Brussels that the current pricing system in the single market penalizes countries that invest in renewable or cheap resources.
„Regarding the price mechanism, as you know, the mechanism by which the price of electricity is established is that all producers receive the price of the most expensive of the production sources that are available at a certain time interval. And this means that those who produce cheaper have substantial gains during certain time intervals. This means that, even in countries that have a significant percentage of cheap and renewable energy, due to the fact that the last bit of energy is at a high price, consumers and companies in those countries have a high price,” Dan said.
The head of state claims that he has found openness at the European Commission level for two intervention options that would protect Romanians’ bills. According to him, the debate will continue in the Council in June, targeting both the direct capping of gas and the recovery of excessive profits from producers.
„The Commission was open to mechanisms to reduce the price of energy, either by capping the price of gas, because most of the time slots are those in which the gas plant is the one that gives the maximum price, so the price for the whole day and for the entire geographical area, or that these price differences that are large and earned by those who produce cheap energy be temporarily taken by the state and directed towards consumer protection”, the president added.
Regarding the long-term strategy, Nicușor Dan states that Europe has taken a historic step by accepting nuclear energy as a strategic solution for the future. At the same time, he emphasizes that Romania is counting on a massive package of European investments to secure its transport networks and interconnection with the rest of the continent.
„The European Commission came up with a proposal and a sum of 30 billion euros to be invested across Europe in networks, in network optimization and in interconnections between countries, so that we get closer and closer to a European energy market. The Council reached an agreement to move towards stimulating nuclear energy. And even countries that wanted to give up their nuclear power plants are coming back and requesting the extension of their operation,” concluded Nicușor Dan.