BREAKING Prime Minister Ciucă: Offshore law will be adopted today / At the end of June we will have the first molecule of gas from the Black Sea entering the system / In five years we will become energy independent

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă said on Wednesday at an event organized by Romanian Business Leaders that the offshore law will be adopted today so that investments in resource exploitation will be able to start. Ciucă announced that the first investment will start next month, the Black See Oil and Gas investment in the Black Sea. „At the end of June we will have the first molecule of gas from the Black Sea entering the system,” the Prime Minister said. He said that „concrete steps have been taken, we are certain that in no more than five years we can become energy independent”.

Below are the most relevant statements made by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă

• The policy measures have been discussed in coalition and supported by both PNL, PSD and UDMR. They were open discussions based on arguments, which resulted in government measures. We are happy to talk about this economic growth, 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year, 5.2% compared to the previous quarter. The government has been a driving force behind your work.
• An economy needs predictability, stability and confidence, which we gain hard and lose easily. Today, I am convinced that we have succeeded in gaining your trust, the trust of foreign investors, and we are committed to continuing on this path.
• We have committed all our efforts to ensure that these objectives are met: predictability, stability and confidence.
• The Romanian government is committed to a pro-business approach. We have demonstrated this pro-business commitment by supporting public and private investments, reflected in the state budget allocations, in the support package mentioned by Marcel Ciolacu, in which all parties agreed that we need to support the business environment. 60% of this package is for investment, 40% is for vulnerable people.
• We aimed to protect the economy, to promote digitalization, to promote green energy. Maybe at the beginning we were not very credible when we talked about digitalization, in the first part of the year we will digitalize the business to business billing part, it has been done, from July 1st it will become mandatory. We were talking about the freight radar, the freight radar is active. It is an aspect that comes in and brings transparency to both the relationship between business and the relationship between business and the state.
• It is essential to make the most of the funds that Romania benefits from the NRRP, 60% of which are dedicated to environmental projects and digital transformation. We have important resources that we need to mobilize in this regard. Government representatives will provide more details.
• We are talking about infrastructure modernization, including electrification €3.9 billion, urban mobility €1.8 billion, energy efficiency of buildings €2.7 billion, biodiversity €1.1 billion, digitalization of public administration €1.5 billion, digitalization of education €881 million.
• We allocate funds for green energy, energy efficiency for pollution-free transport and clean environment. Already the first program on the NRDP wave of renovation has been launched for €1.8 billion, money that can be accessed this year. Already the first call has been made, there is still some money left that will require a second call for projects.
• The €2.7 billion local fund has been launched, guidelines have been published and the call for projects follows. Yesterday afternoon together with the coalition leaders and line ministries we discussed the steps we need to take at government level so that the targets by the end of June are achieved.
• We will therefore implement projects to digitalize the public administration, health and education system. We are convinced that the digitalization of public services will boost the relationship with business and the citizen.
• We have agreed in the coalition that we need coherent, concrete policies so that we can modernize and develop the country.
• We have the opportunity for the measures we take to become truly independent in terms of energy and gas supply. Concrete steps have been taken, we are certain that in no more than five years we can become energy independent.
• As regards gas resources, today the offshore law will be approved in the Romanian Parliament, thus creating predictability and the possibility for onshore and offshore investments to start. The first investment will start next month, Black See Oil and Gas in the Black Sea. At the end of June we will have the first molecule of gas from the Black Sea entering the system.
• At OMV Petrom and Romgaz level there are projects in place to ensure that no later than 2026 we will have the necessary gas resources both to ensure independence for public consumption and branches in the petrochemical industry and why not to export gas.
• We are preparing a state aid scheme for the training and retraining of employees to ensure increased digital performance
• We need this training to happen with every citizen of the country, in order to benefit from the opportunities that digital transformation offers

Translated from Romanian by Ovidiu H.