How prepared are we, legally and institutionally, to cope with an energy crisis? Even if we somehow managed to “muddle through” during 2022, in fact, the region that is most exposed to Russia’s energy blackmail lags well behind the implementation of European directives and regulations.
Regionally, Romania fares relatively well on paper – but that, in the old tradition of “forms without substance”. Romania prepared the mandatory plans, statistics and strategies, required by Brussels; but the implementation is almost absent. The quality is not the best either: national plans are not well correlated with the regional ones. Romania considers itself a sheltered island with own resources with little concerns for regional solidarity (except when we benefit from it). Where problems are identified, there is little concern to prepare preventive measures. In addition, Romania undermines its own energy security through other misguided measures, such as excessive price regulation legislation (which dissuades long-term investments) and plans to significantly increase natural gas consumption in the years to come.
The full report can be found here.
