Bucharest risks thermal blackout this winter, as politicians confront each other with controversial statements amid the launch of an electoral campaign inside the governing party and outside as well.
This time is for real: the projects launched by Gabriela Firea, the PSD supported Mayor, who insists she does not target the party head, are blocked by the acting president, Liviu Dragnea. Among the projects are ELCEN’s and RADET’s reorganization plans and their merger into a single new company.
Conflicts inside the party jeopardize the plans of the mayor, and this may mean for the first time cutting the subsidy without which the thermal system of the Capital cannot work.
More and more voices in the public space warn about the danger of eliminating the subsidy because of the political blockade. But who cuts heating in Bucharest risks losing four million votes.
Thus, the game becomes interesting, for the challenger. Putting all the blame on the political adversary can lead to winning the election.
In this context, blocking of the City Hall’s plans makes no sense, if not part of an electoral game.
Until now, the general counselors, the City Hall and the government have delayed approval of the reorganization plans of the above mentioned entities, introducing numerous thresholds to overrun, in order the merger to happen and all to function smoothly. The last vote of the Town Hall Council did not even consider the reorganization plan, although it was exactly this plan that was originally announced. Mayor Firea blames the government, which would have blocked reorganization plans. If this is the case, in the winter, the voters in Bucharest might not blame the mayor, but the government instead.
Firea also says that everything depends on ELCEN’s creditors’ vote on September 24. However, later on, it is still the City Hall Council to decide new subsidies and to approve the reorganization plans under the new company Energetica which would swallow ELCEN and RADET. The game is unclear, as other voices claim that an unspecified (large) number of documents are to approve in order to make Energetica work. Finally, one of the judicial administrators states that the merger is no longer possible (momentarily).
However, the vote on September 24 will show whether the Dragnea group, in effect Dăncilă government, is mature from a political standpoint, and if it realizes that by such a blockage it can lead to its own electoral defeat. That is, if the City Hall will still have some room for maneuver.
