The natural gas crisis is artificially created by the Russian Federation, through Gazprom, and I believe that a common front of all member states is needed to cover this energy crisis, interim Energy Minister Virgil Popescu said on Wednesday, according to Agerpres.

“After a difficult year, economic growth followed in 2021, as the Romanian economy and the European economy have been revived, but we began to face a crisis of raw materials, energy and natural gas prices, which is reflected in the economy. Here we have already taken measures to support, in addition to citizens, small and medium-sized enterprises, so that we can get through this winter,” said Popescu.

”A week ago, we already injected 500 million lei into the economy, to large consumers, which have tens of thousands of people employed and are in need of support on an aid scheme that we approved at the end of 2019 and will continue. We want to inject money into the economy to help companies get through this period, too. A pandemic overlapping with an energy crisis is not a good thing. We must be extra-careful, as the pandemic did not end. We must be prudent, so as the health of Romanians comes first. We have a natural gas crisis, which is an artificial crisis created by the Russian Federation through Gazprom. You have seen how sensitive the gas market is. When the German regulator announced that it would postpone the approval of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the price of natural gas increased immediately. I believe that a common front of all member states is needed to put an end to this energy crisis,” Popescu added.

As for the challenges of 2020, the official said it was “a very difficult year, a year that probably no one expected, a year with a lockdown in which we faced a pandemic.”