The Ministry of European Investments and Projects is well advanced in the construction of the Social Climate Fund (SCF), but the problem is that the Energy Ministry has decided that Romania is not ready to take on the implementation of the new emissions trading scheme (ETS2), which involves taxes on emissions from buildings and road transportation in exchange for 5-6 billion euros, the minister in charge, Dragoș Pîslaru, told the joint budget-finance committees on Tuesday evening.
„I am strongly linked to this subject because I negotiated from the European Parliament. It has been negotiated by two committees - environment and labor - and you realize that when I came to the ministry I immediately had my attention so that we could finalize the negotiation with the European Commission. The reality is that we are very advanced in the construction of the Social Climate Fund and the projects that we have. Mind you, there are only two eligible areas. There is the area related to housing and the area related to mobility and we are quite advanced. The problem we have - and this is where I am asking for your support - is that the Ministry of Energy has decided that Romania is not ready to take on the implementation of ETS2. If somehow it is not known (...), in order to be able to implement and obtain the 5-6 billion from the FSC, I have to adopt some additional taxation measures on fossil fuels, namely to tax this area of cars, and finally the additional transportation area, so I have to add new taxes to this ETS2 fund. The Energy Ministry, given the increase in energy prices, has adopted a normative act postponing the adoption of ETS2 to 2030,” the minister said, according to Agerpres.
According to him, MIPE and the Ministry of the Environment have obtained a derogation from the European Commission to implement ETS2 until 2028.
„We and the Ministry of the Environment have gotten the waiver to implement ETS2 until 2028, but until we clarify that we can implement from 2028, meaning the Ministry of Energy to waive that deferral, we will not be able to present to the Commission the element that actually allows us to attract money. So to be brief, we are ready, obviously and willing, to discuss the final details on the things that we have suggested. We have everything well prepared. The correspondence with the Commission is very advanced, but unfortunately, at national level, we are not ready to add an additional levy, even if it is a minimal one compared to the 5-6 billion that would be taken through the FSC. This is the discussion and if you can support us, obviously also at political level, to find a balance between the implementation of that small additional tax and getting the 5-6 billion euros for, especially, vulnerable people, it would be a very good thing and we are at your disposal, obviously, for this,” Dragoș Pîslaru told the parliamentarians.
The Minister of European Investments and Projects, Dragos Pîslaru, was present on Tuesday evening at the debates on the draft budget for 2026 in the joint budget-finance committees.