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Energy security, nuclear industry on Romania's agenda at EU Energy Council
Energy security, the importance of the nuclear sector, the development of indigenous energy sources, and the energy situation of the Republic of Moldova were some of the topics approached by Romanian Minister for Energy Razvan Nicolescu in his speech at the meeting of the Council of EU Energy Ministers in Luxembourg on Friday.
'We had a very good discussion on the Commission's Communication on safety energy ahead of the European Council [June 27-28], where the heads of state and government will re-approach the topic. We considered the Commission's Communication a very good basis for talks. We believe there are some things that need to be considered. First of all, we have to re-think the whole matter and attach greater importance to the nuclear field both as far as the approach on energy security is concerned and in terms of a higher efficiency concerning the European actions as regards the policies in the field, climate change,' Minister Nicolescu told AGERPRES.
In the context, Nicolescu stressed the fact that, following a proposal of the Czech Republic, Romania took over the 2-year chairmanship of the Group of EU member states supporting nuclear energy.
'We consider and interpret this term as a recognition of Romania's role in the field. We are one of the few countries in the world with a complete nuclear cycle. We operate one of the safest nuclear units [CNC Cernavoda plant], this gives us responsibilities for the next two years,' Razvan Nicolescu argued.
On the other hand, the Romanian side underscored it support for the development of indigenous energy sources, conventional and unconventional included.
'It is important to be pragmatic, to know if the European Union has conventional or unconventional hydrocarbon sources and, in such a situation, this sector must be supported,' he adds.
The Romanian minister also stressed the need 'to diversify the supply sources, which should be given priority, including when it comes to lists of projects considered of common interest.'
In his address, the Romanian official underscored Romania's position in favour of the European Commission's approach to the South Stream project. 'All the projects carried out on the EU's territory must comply with the EU law and also, the European energy approaches should be consistent, because one can plead for help to Ukraine and at the same time support projects against Ukraine,' Nicolescu said.
The representative of the Romanian Government also mentioned in his speech the need to support diversification both as regards electricity and natural gas for the Republic of Moldova, a smaller country, much less talked about in comparison to Ukraine, but facing a more difficult energy situation than Ukraine. 'As regards the 2030 package, we emphasized the importance of signing an international agreement in this field, which should be considered a priority. And all our actions in the field of climate change should not trigger competitiveness problems or lead to relocations or job losses in Europe,' Nicolescu declared.