The amendment of the offshore law cannot be made only by the Government, but needs political consensus, because it is a major project for Romania, said on Thursday evening, the Minister of Economy, Energy and Business Environment, Virgil Popescu, declaring himself convinced that the Liberals will unblock the investment in the Black Sea.

“Investments in the Black Sea are currently blocked and I want to unblock them, but it cannot be done overnight. In order to unblock investments in the Black Sea, two things are needed. One was the repeal of Ordinance 114, which we have done, and another is required by the operators, the amendment of the offshore law, and the amendment of the offshore law cannot be done only by the Government, because it reaches Parliament and will be slaughtered. It cannot be done within the Parliament without political consensus, because then whoever leaves will never finalize it. As it happened with the offshore law that was issued by the PSD government, returned to a PSD majority and completely changed. We are not talking about a majority, we are talking about a political consensus, because it it is a major project for Romania, a major energy security project and, moreover, I think it is national security and there must be political consensus. When I talk about political consensus I am not talking about PNL, PSD, or part of PSD. I am talking about the whole political spectrum in the Parliament and the political spectrum is very fragmented at the moment,” said Popescu, quoted by Agerpres.

He stressed that the amendment of the law could be made after the parliamentary elections, by a Parliament that has the legitimacy to do so.

“I believe that this can be done immediately after the parliamentary elections, with a Parliament that has the legitimacy to do so, and I am convinced that it will be done. I am convinced that we, the Liberals, will unblock these investments in the Black Sea, which are more than necessary for Romania, not only by the fact that we will exploit this gas from the Black Sea and we want to consume it as much as possible in Romania, but we also want to increase the petrochemistry filed,” the Minister of Economy underlined.