Greece, Romania and Bulgaria united against rising electricity prices in Southeast Europe
Romania will ask the Council of Ministers of the EU for compensation due to much higher energy prices in the region compared to Western Europe, announced the country’s energy minister Sebastian Burduža. Thus, Romania joined Greece and Bulgaria.
Buruža said this after his Greek colleague Theodoros Skilakakis stated that Greece, Romania and Bulgaria joined forces in the fight against rising electricity prices in South-Eastern Europe, Euraktiv Romania reported.
For several months, energy prices in the region have been “significantly higher” than in Western Europe, Burduža pointed out.
The minister believes that this is the result of several factors, including a dry year, reduced production in hydropower plants, problems with interconnection and maintenance work in Hungary.
“We also provided valuable commercial support to Modavia and Ukraine, which contributed to pressure on energy prices in Romania,” Burduza said at a conference in Bucharest last week.
“If we are part of the single European energy market, we cannot simply bear the costs and endlessly tolerate prices that are two and three times higher than in the rest of Europe,” said the Romanian minister and added that he will therefore raise the issue before the EU Council of Ministers.
At the same time, he repeated that he supports the expansion of the single market, but pointed out that “if we want to follow the same rules, we have to enjoy the same benefits”. “Otherwise, some will get all the benefits while others will bear the costs,” said Burduža.
According to Reuters, Greece’s energy minister recently warned that the single electricity market is not working for Southeast Europe, adding that he will engage with Romania and Bulgaria to find a permanent solution to rising electricity prices in the region.
The Greek Prime Minister is expected to send a letter to the European Commission on the matter.
Source: Beta
Photo: Pixabay, Unsplash
Source: bizlife.rs
