Romania cannot have a free energy market as long as the state can intervene at its own discretion to obtain votes, using its legislative and regulatory powers. Such behaviour by the state is harmful for investment and blocks economic development, said Daniel Apostol, director-general of the Energy Employers’ Federation, at the conference “Romanian Energy Market – Facts of 2025”.
“But you can’t have a free market if it is at the discretion of the state to use its legislative regulatory power whenever it needs votes. As you can see, the Romanian state’s way of controlling the real economy is subjugated to political interests and we see how measures are being taken to block investment projects. We agree that there must be a vision of energy consumption at a price which is bearable for a vulnerable consumer. We have been asking the state for a long time to define together what a vulnerable consumer means,” Apostol said.
In his view, if the authorities want the energy market to move towards a free, self-regulating energy market, they need to re-evaluate the current way of compensating energy prices, which is “slightly unethical” because it is aimed at a very large number of citizens who do not all fall into the category of vulnerable consumers.
According to Apostol, Romania started 2025 with “extremely fragile” macroeconomic data. The introduction of new taxes and the increase of existing ones is putting the entire economic environment in difficulty.
We have to recognise that the state needs resources to finance deficits, but when this is done solely through the introduction of new taxes, there is a risk that at some point the tax system will become too much of a burden for taxpayers to bear, to the point where they will no longer be able to pay their tax obligations. “There are companies that will at some point come to question the economic efficiency of their very operation. The energy sector is an overtaxed sector,” Apostol continued. The introduction of new taxes, such as the special construction tax, puts an additional burden not only on the energy sector, but also on agriculture, communications and many other economic sectors. “This tax has come to block investment, to block economic development, so that the state will have nowhere to recover [tax and duties] from the wealth that is no longer being produced,” Apostol added.
Uncertainties over the regulatory regime for the energy sector are only worsening the situation for energy companies. Moreover, the authorities’ wish for ‘energy independence’ is false, because Romania is interconnected with other countries and political stability and legislative predictability are needed to ensure energy security.
“Romania’s energy security is a desideratum and we have the necessary resources, we have the capacities, we have the personnel, we have a well-qualified labour force. We still need political stability and I wonder if we have it. We need a stable regulatory framework and predictability. […] I question the need to be energy independent, because we live in an interconnected world. We are an interconnected economy. We cannot operate independently of strategic trading partners, of infrastructure, of financing, of providing security in our own way,” Apostol added.
The conference “Romanian Energy Market – Facts of 2025” was organized by Energynomics with the support of our partners: Alive Capital, Elektra Renewable Support, Enevo Group, Hidroelectrica, Nano Energies. Software Media WEBUS 4 ENERGY, Think Blu Solution.