The Ministry of Environment will launch a program called „Rabla PLUS”, which will stimulate acquisitions of electric cars when deciding on a new car purchase, specified minister Cristiana Paşca Palmer. In all Romanian cities, the plans for a sustainable urban mobility are nearing completion, and the ministry is preparing to launch a program to stimulate both the purchase of electric cars and the development of an adequate infrastructure for this type of vehicles, explained the Minister of Environment.

“Romania makes concrete steps forward in this regard. In all cities in the country, sustainable urban mobility plans are almost created, which should provide intelligent traffic management measures and infrastructure investment programs for emission-free transport. In parallel, the Ministry of Environment launches „Rabla PLUS”, a program that we want to stimulate people to choose an electric car instead of the classical one. The number of electric vehicles on the road in Romania is tiny compared to those in other European countries: only 600, compared to tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands in other countries. I think this is mainly due to the lack of charging infrastructure in Romania of this type of vehicles, with a lower range than the classics. Therefore, through „Rabla PLUS”, we will also fund this year the development of such charging infrastructure”, said Cristiana Paşca Palmer.

In Romania, over 13% of the greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere annually come from the transport sector, said Minister of Environment, Water and Forests. Furthermore, from all the greenhouse gases that this sector emits, 96% are originated from road transport, added the minister, during the informal meeting of the Ministers of Environment and Ministers of Transport from the EU.

“The meeting in Amsterdam was quite innovative, from interactive discussions between the participating states to the European premiere challenged by the Dutch Presidency, to bring at the same table the Ministers of Environment and of Transport. Thus, the transition to what Europe wants is not a so distant future, zero-emission transports, has been started by the cross talks between the areas that have been treated separately so far. This policy approach will be continued by Slovakia, which will take over the Presidency of the European Council and announcing a future Informal Environment Council to be attended by the European ministers of Environment, Transport and Energy.

The European states have pointed in unison that Europe is ready for the transition to the zero-emission transports, agreeing that there are both technology and business communities expectations, that the European governments will create the necessary frameworks in regard of this transition. Switching to a less polluting transport is a necessity in Europe: in Romania, for instance, more than 13% of the emissions of greenhouse gases come from transport, and 96% of them are due strictly to road transport (… )”, said Cristiana Paşca Palmer.