site.btaPM Ciuca: Romania Ready to Play Its Role as Reliable Partner for European Energy Security

Romania is ready to play its role as a reliable partner for European energy security, Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said during the ceremony for the launch of commercial operation of the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnector in Sofia Saturday.

He said the shortage of supply created by Russia has affected not only Europe but also the global energy market. This has led to high energy prices across the world, so any steps to increase cross-border cooperation will lead to reliable energy sources at reasonable prices. “We need to increase our production capacity, to do our homework in Europe so that we have every opportunity to diversify our energy supply in solidarity,” Ciuca noted, adding that ”our neighbours in Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans count on this”.

"We may be celebrating the success of the project at the moment, but we must remain realistic," the Romanian prime minister said. “We have to recognize that the diversification of supplies and routes must be accelerated because Europe must free itself from its dependence on Russian fuels.”

Individual efforts are not enough when there is a crisis, we must be united and the completion of the vertical corridor is part of these solutions, Ciuca said. In his words, this is the way to facilitate gas transmission to Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans.