EC may send Romania to court on gas sector regulation

The European Commission will refer Romania to the European Court of Justice if the Parliament adopts several regulatory changes for the natural gas sector, European Commissioner for Energy Miguel Arias Canete said on Tuesday, February 27. The European Commission has already opened an infringement procedure against Romania for blocking natural gas exports. An emergency ordinance adopted by the Government in 2016 would have aligned Romania to EU directives and would have ended the infringement, if the Parliament had adopted it. However, the Parliament’s decision to block the ordinance and change it may bring another court action against Romania, local Agerpres reported. The most controversial amendment to the ordinance is forcing the local gas producers to trade at least 70% of the gas they extract in Romania on the local OPCOM energy market. Such a decision would negatively impact competition on the gas market, according to Canete. He urged Romania not to adopt this amendment which would lead to another infringement procedure against the country. editor@romania-insider.com