The European Commission warned Romania on Wednesday to remove its cap on gas prices or potentially face legal action over the policy, which the EU executive branch said violates the bloc's energy market rules. Gas and power bills for Romanian households, small businesses and public institutions have been capped up to certain monthly consumption levels since November 2021, with suppliers compensated for the difference. In a notice published on Wednesday, the European Commission said the policy violates EU rules on the free formation of wholesale gas prices, since Romania's measure obliges firms to sell part of their production at a fixed wholesale price. "Regulated prices at the level of the EU-wide wholesale market distort price signals and effective market functioning," the Commission said. European wholesale gas prices began climbing in 2021 after Russia limited deliveries. Prices soared to record highs the following year when Moscow further slashed supplies after its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Romania's government has two months to respond to the EU warning, after which the Commission can refer the case to the EU's top court, if the matter is unresolved. Ahead of its May 18 presidential election run-off, Romania currently has an interim government which cannot issue decrees or introduce policies. Former Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu resigned on Monday after hard-right eurosceptic George Simion won the first round of the presidential election re-run. The president elected this month will appoint a new prime minister. In February, the former government extended the gas price cap for a year, and prolonged the power price limits until June, to rein in consumers' bills. Romania produces almost all the gas it consumes domestically, through producers OMV Petrom, state-owned Romgaz and offshore producer Black Sea Oil & Gas.
Romanian prosecutors conducted searches on Friday, November 7, at the headquarters of the steel mill Liberty Galați and in several counties, in a case of embezzlement and tax evasion that includes Russian gas giant Gazprom, Economedia.ro reported. Specifically,...
Romania has begun testing the US-supplied Merops anti-drone system as part of wider NATO efforts to strengthen air defenses on the alliance’s eastern flank, defense minister Ionuț Moșteanu told local news channel Digi24. The system, already used in...
The Ministry of Development proposed to the government to analyse the opportunity to develop an investment program dedicated to the economic recovery of small towns with a population of under 25,000 in non-metropolitan areas. The financial support for the development of these towns has been so far fragmented, and competition with large cities for funds proved […]
Prime minister Ilie Bolojan said on November 6 that he hopes that the ruling coalition will manage to legislate by the end of this month the rest of the second package of budgetary measures, namely the public administration streamlining law and the law on magistrates' pensions. Unless the law on the public administration is legislated, […]
Japanese group Makita announced that it will reduce production of power tools in China for the US market due to the unpredictability of US tariffs and move this production to factories in Romania and Thailand, according to Nikkei Asia, as reported by Economica.net. The Japanese group reported business of almost EUR 640 million locally...
The Competition Council has outlined a series of concerns related to the transaction through which the Schwarz group, which operates the Kaufland and Lidl store chains in Romania, intends to take over the La Cocoș stores, according to a press release quoted by
