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Internal energy market: Commission calls on ROMANIA to correctly transpose EU rules
Last Thursday, the Commission decided to send a letter of formal notice to Romania for failing to correctly implement certain requirements of the Gas Directive (Directive 2009/73/EC) and the Security of Gas Supply Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2017/1938).
These instruments aim at ensuring the competitiveness in the EU gas markets while guaranteeing the secure supply to households and other customers requiring special protection. After analysing legislative measures adopted by Romania in December 2018, the Commission found that the system of regulated wholesale prices newly introduced in the Romanian gas market goes against the EU legal requirements.
The Commission also considers that these measures are not adequate to sustainably achieve the objective of protecting household customers from excessive price increases.
"After analyzing the legislative measures adopted by Romania in December 2018, the Commission found that the system of newly regulated wholesale prices on the Romanian gas market is contrary to the EU legal requirements. The Commission also considers that these measures are not adequate for achieving the sustainable goal of protecting household consumers against excessive price increases," says the EU Executive.
The Government in Bucharest decided in December 2018, through the Emergency Ordinance on fiscal-budgetary measures, to cap the gas price at 68 lei/MWh for the next three years for all household consumers. For industrial consumers the price will also be capped but it will be a mix of the price of 68 lei for industrial consumers, the import price and the storage cost.
The premier's economic advisor, Darius Valcov, said that the decision on natural gas price capping does not infringe the European regulations and that the Competition Law even recommends this because in Romania there is a situation of oligopoly, especially in the gas field.