European Commissioner for Industry tells Bucharest EU support for battery investments will continue

  European and European Commission support for the battery sector and particularly for investments in this field will continue, visiting European Commission Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Stephane Sejourne declared on Thursday as he visited together with Minister of Economy, Digital transformation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism Bogdan Ivan, and Romanian MEPs Dan Barna and Dan Nica the Romanian manufacturer Prime Batteries Technology, which supplies state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries and customised energy storage systems for a multitude of sectors and companies across Europe.I have reserved my first visit to a European capital city for Romania. This sends out an important message from the European Commission because Romania is one of the most industrialized countries in Europe and we need Romania at this time of economic uncertainty and reindustrialisation, Sejourne said.According to him, the European Commission will simplify the regulatory framework for reindustrialization, removing certain rules that constrain companies' investments, in an eagerly awaited bid to simplify things without deregulating.The EC official announced that the European Commission's Clean Industrial Deal, a strategy that must cover all the subjects of the battery sector, including decarbonization and company competitiveness, will be unveiled at the end of February.The Commissioner noted that this visit is very important because Romania will play a key role in European industrial development in terms of raw materials too, and as regards the opening of new mines, which could be in the interest of Romania, but also of Europe. We are interested in diversifying supplies in Europe and especially in restarting production on European soil, and in this sense, Romania is a very good example, the EU official said.He mentioned that he will return to Romania to support the steel sector as well, because Europe cannot have steel unless it supports a chain demand for this, just as the wind industry, the battery industry, or the automotive industry are inconceivable without steel. Romania is also at the center of our concerns and we will help this sector. I wanted to come as soon as possible to give this signal of support, of economic assistance and of joint strategy, because we will coordinate things with the European Commission, in the interest of the Romanians and of the Europeans as well, because our goals are also the goals of the European Union, Sejourne added.In his turn, Minister Bogdan Ivan stated that the visit of the European Commissioner is extremely important because it comes with a message for the entire Romanian industry, specifically that "Romania has the European Union's backing to become a player in the new industries". Ivan also said that starting next week, he will begin a series of consultations with "Romania's large industry, to create an input that we can take to Brussels.""When we talk about the industrial development of Europe and reducing dependence on other continents, we are talking about making the most of domestic resources, and Romania has huge resources of critical materials, and it also has an extremely important geostrategic position," the minister added.Prime Batteries Technology CEO Cristian Pastuhov said that in a month and a half, the plant's production capacity will increase from 300 MWh per year to 2.3 GWh per year."Against the background of the development of the Romanian energy sector, in terms of production capacities from renewable sources, namely wind and photovoltaic power plants, batteries are highly important in creating a national energy balance and even more than that," the chief executive said.He mentioned that the factory exports mainly to the European Union, but also to Latin American and African countries.European Commission Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Stephane Sejourne is paying an official visit to Bucharest January 8 - 9.Ahead of the official release of the European Commission's Clean Industry Deal and a few weeks after the launch of the strategic dialogue on the automotive industry, this visit marks the fourth stage of the Executive Vice-President's tour of Europe's most strategic industrial sectors and supply chains - this time with a specific focus on batteries.The high-ranking European official also met with Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, with Senate President Ilie Bolojan, and visited the National Institute for Aerospace Research and Development (INCAS), Romania's main research center in the field of aerospace sciences.  (Photo: www.gov.ro)