Bolojan: As Prime Minister, I renegotiated the decarbonisation target within the terms agreed by Romania

Acting prime minister, Ilie Bolojan stated on Monday that, as head of the executive he obtained ‘the best possible’ outcome after renegotiating with the European Commission the target in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) regarding decarbonisation. He warned that not meeting the commitments assumed by Romania for the set deadlines could result in financial penalties of over one billion euros and even the suspension of funding from the final instalments of the PNRR.The comments were made after Bolojan was asked whether he would comply with the request from the PSD leader, Sorin Grindeanu, who had asked him to travel urgently to Brussels to negotiate a postponement of the 31 August deadline for the closure of coal-fired power stations.   ‘The issue of coal-fired power stations falls within the energy sector. And here there are two aspects: those of a political nature and those relating to Romania’s commitments, the realities on the ground, the absorption of European funds, and analyses of cost-effectiveness and sustainability. Romania has signed a commitment under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) whereby, in exchange for significant funding that Romania has received – both in the form of grants and loans – it has undertaken to reduce coal-fired power generation, replacing it with other forms of generation, such as gas-fired, solar or wind power. Unfortunately, between 2021 and 2025 – the period within which we were required to make these changes – very little has been done, neither in Craiova, nor in the Jiu Valley, nor in Gorj County; and in two cities where work is behind schedule – for example, Constan?a and Arad – the necessary measures have not been implemented. ‘In Arad and Constan?a, the two power stations replacing the coal-fired units are at an advanced stage of construction and will, in practice, be operational this autumn,’ said Ilie Bolojan on Monday at a press conference at the Victoria Palace.   He mentioned that he renegotiated the target regarding decarbonisation and Romania obtained the best possible conditions, in the limits of the previous commitments.'During my time as Prime Minister, I have renegotiated the decarbonisation target. In my view, we have achieved the best possible outcome given the commitments Romania has undertaken through our governments in previous years, and we are now in a position where, by the end of August, we have certain performance targets which, if Romania meets them – and we will meet them in part – the penalties will be lower, whilst for what we do not fulfil, we will probably face some financial corrections. What I mean is that there are actions one can take under normal circumstances, as we have done during this period through the studies we have submitted to demonstrate the sustainability of our energy system; and, secondly, decisions we can take in a populist manner regarding breaches of the agreements we have made; and if we take such decisions, including in the energy sector – which can cause a public outcry at a time like this – it means not only that we will lose some money, but that the corrections to the PNRR will be very substantial, because it triggers an irreversibility clause, which means immediate corrections of over one billion euros and the possibility of blocking future funding from the final instalments we are due to access under the PNRR,’ said Bolojan. Asked if he would support the draft law proposed by PSD according to which Romania should stop shutting down any energy production capacity before a new one is functional, the premier answered that such a measure would have very high costs.  ‘Things which theoretically sound good, but they have some enormous costs. It would have been nice if, over the course of five years, all those who had responsibilities in the energy system had done what was necessary so that Romania could absorb European funds which we had at our disposal in this sector, carry out the work as others did and we would have been in a situation with no problems of this kind’ Bolojan said.The acting Prime Minister was asked whether, during government-level discussions on the energy crisis, any scenario had been considered involving the restart of units at coal-fired power stations, and under what conditions such a scenario might be implemented.   The acting Prime Minister was asked whether the restarting of some units at Turceni and Rovinari was being considered.   ‘The units at Rovinari are operating normally, that is to say at their maximum capacity, depending on the reserves available to them, and therefore everything that could be started up where reserves are available is operating under normal conditions, including ParoSeni and so on, as long as they have the capacity to operate given the coal resources at their disposal,’ said Bolojan.(Photo:https://gov.ro/)