Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu, said on Monday that he was willing to consider the option of over-taxing energy companies, as a tool for limiting the high price of energy for final consumers.

“Today I heard another type of capping – capping through taxation. It is a discussion that can take place. I am not a supporter of capping the price to the producer, because that discourages investment, but if we talk about something else, an over-taxation for exceptional profits, if we talk about limiting the price to the final consumer, then we can discuss, of course. An over-taxation cannot be discussed without the involvement of Finance, to know exactly what it is, but it is a discussion that deserves to be open and worth continuing,” said Virgil Popescu, in the Parliament, at the Government Hour.

On the other hand, regarding the energy transition strategy, the Minister of Energy drew attention to the need to analyze the total environmental footprint left by wind and solar energy.

“We have to look at the total footprint of each technology and we have raised this issue and asked to look at wind energy and see what it means (its total footprint) from when we start produce it until it is completed: it pollutes or it does not pollute? This problem with the turbines (their administration after decommissioning) is valid for absolutely all those who have installed wind energy in the world. The same can be said of solar energy: what do we do with the panels after a while, if they can reuse or not, with storage capacities, batteries and so on,” said Virgil Popescu.