Romania needs to think of strategies that use renewable resources, but it will be very difficult to respond to the new challenges of the European Union (EU) in terms of ecological approach, said the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests (MMAP), Iulian Octavian Stana.

“A first element of this European Green Deal, which is very important for us as a country, is the Climate Law, which has already proposed a regulation setting the European Union’s goal of climate neutrality by 2050, as well as the way forward for reaching it. We need to be very careful, because we need to focus on the sustainable use of resources and not put so much pressure on non-renewable resources. We will have to think of strategies that use renewable resources and it will be very difficult for Romania to meet these challenges of the European Union from the point of view of the ecological approach. We all know that Romania, at the moment, still uses coal to produce energy and we notice that we also have a problem with road traffic, in the case of Bucharest, where we see that gas emissions are quite high during periods when traffic is very high (…) Until 2050 we have a lot of work to do and we are here to collaborate with all partners who want to have an interaction with the ministry,” Stana was quoted as saying by Agerpres.

He pointed out that the European Green Deal is the new economic growth strategy and sets the direction for various European policies for the next five years.

“When we talk about the ecological recovery of the European Union, we are actually talking about this Green Deal, this European Green Pact, which is the new economic growth strategy and which sets the direction of various European policies for the next five years. With the COVID pandemic, things have changed, and this Pact has become even more important in all respects. It has been observed during the pandemic that nature is working and that it can rectify the problems facing the planet in terms of pollution. At the moment, this European pact will be rethought, because we want to have a green recovery and be the basis of the European strategy for economic growth,” the state secretary said.