Romanian President Approves the Law for Green Certificates

President Traian Basescu said on Thursday that he signed the  law approving Government Ordinance 57/2013 establishing a system to promote the generation of energy from renewable sources.

"To settle matters, I signed the law to approve the OUG regarding green certificates and I’m anxiously awaiting energy prices to drop. I believe it is one of the population’s most ardent desires, according to the Government”, Basescu said.

The president added that he hopes, after the law comes into effect, that unions will no longer manifest at the Constitutional Court or to expect anything from the President, because from now on, this is the Government’s problem.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced on Wednesday that the Government will issue an emergency ordinance on the green certificates subsidies, in case President Traian Basescu refuses to promulgate the law approving Government Ordinance 57/2013 .

"The solution is to go over the president and protect the industry and the Romanian consumer, eventually via an emergency ordinance if the president refuses to sign the law”, Ponta said in a Government meeting.

According to the Prime-Minister, "the biggest danger for Romania in 2014 is electricity prices blowing up because the president has refused twice to pass the law for that reduces the quote for green certificates and keeps prices steady”.

"If we follow the president, all the electricity bills will go up 50 percent for industry (…) and for the average consumer”, Ponta said on Wednesday.

President Traian Basescu reacted to the PM’s declarations, saying that the Law of Green Certificates is currently in effect in the form adopted by the Government. Furthermore, according to Basescu, Ponta is contradicting himself.

"PM Victor Ponta added to the craziness today. Supposedly the president is blocking Emergency Ordinances which is not possible. So either the PM is lying, as is his habit, or he’s incompetent and has declared things that have absolutely no connection to reality, like the fact that I blocked an Ordinance that limits the number of green certificates awarded to renewable energy producers”, Basescu commented.

The president explained that the ordinance has already produced effects, albeit after the Parliament introduced changes that are not yet valid, but that has no effect on the actual reduction in green certificates.

"The reduction is the one in the text of the law”, Basescu said, adding that he sent the Law for Approval of the Ordinance to the Constitutional Court. In the president’s opinion, the law breaks article 148 of the Constitution, which says that the Parliament, Government, president and Justice system are required to obey all EU constitutional treaties.

"According to Romania’s Integration Treaty, before approving the Emergency Ordinance, the European Commission should’ve been notified which didn’t happen. After I sent the ordinance back to the Parliament, the Government initiated contact with the Commission. The process was finalized on February 24. Nobody touched the text of the Ordinance. The fact that negotiations with the EC are done has no bearing on the process of adoption”, the chief-of-state explained.

The president also added that energy prices lowered because of two reasons: cutting back on the number of green certificates and lowering demand on the market.

"The price yesterday was (…) RON 110.05 per MW/ hour. That means an average drop of RON 70 per MW/hour. So prices are dropping but the PM is not getting it. (…) I honestly don’t understand his reaction today and I attribute it to lying propaganda or incompetence. Or maybe both” , the President concluded.

The back-and-forth continued Thursday, after the Prime-Minister met with representatives from Alro Slatina at Victoria Palace. The PM assured the company that the Law for Green Certificates will be passed by March 19.

"The discussions revolved around the issue of green certificates, given the public debate going on right now over the Law of Approval for OUG 57/2013 (…) The Prime-Minister asks president Basescu to urgently sign the law, in order to solve the issues raised by Alro Slatina representatives and avoid unnecessary price increases”, according to a press release issued by the Romanian Government.

Business Review EU
(baljans.com)