The measures to compensate and cap energy bills, adopted by Romania, are incorrect, create instability and discourage investors, so that the Italian group Enel will reduce its investments in our country if these provisions remain in force, Enel officials said on Wednesday at the Enel Capital Markets Day conference.

Francesco Starace, CEO of Enel, said that the European Union published a few months ago a set of measures called the Tool Box, which the Commission believes Member States can implement to reduce the impact of the current crisis of the price of natural gas, without contravening the basic directives on the functioning of markets in Europe.

“There are several ways in which this crisis can be resolved, and the worst of these is to try to ignore the rules of the market. We believe that the measures imposed by the authorities in Romania are incorrect, discourage investors, create instability, do not solve the structural problems and must be changed, just as it happened with the measures taken by other governments in Europe,” Starace said, according to Agerpres.

He believes these measures are a mistake and erode investor confidence.

“I think it is a mistake, we will try to oppose these measures legally and we will try to see if the Government is open to finding other ways to resolve this situation, without directly affecting the basic rules of market functioning. We will do this with all possible attention and understanding, but the measures are certainly a blow to investors’ confidence in Romania,” said the Enel official.

Also, Starace doesn’t think the price of gas will go down too fast.

“We must not forget, because it will happen again and again. Dependence on fossil fuels, especially gas, in some parts of the world where energy consumption is as high as in Europe is not a good idea, and governments should try to limit gas dependence,” he added.

In his turn, Alberto De Paoli, the company’s financial director, said that Enel will reduce investments in Romania, if these measures remain in force.

“When we made the business plan, Romania was an attractive country and we planned to invest more than 2 billion euros to massively develop renewable energy projects and grids. Obviously, if these measures remain in place, yields will decrease. So we will have to revise downwards investments in Romania,” De Paoli said.