2019 budget approval of the Parliament is prone to simple motions from the opposition

According to the official program, the PSD-ALDE coalition’s priority remains the adoption of 2019 budget. In this regard, the opposition (PNL, USR, PMP) announced that they will attack the legislative draft at CCR and they will also issue a simple motion against several ministers. UDMR’s position is not favorable – Kelemen Hunor considers that the distribution of money to local authorities is unfair and unacceptable, due to the fact that the county councils will lose between 17 and 70 million lei.

Source: Hotnews

The price of energy in Romania is the cheapest in the area but imports continue

According to Transelectrica and OPCOM (Romanian Electricity and Gas Market Operator), the price of electricity in Romania’s spot market is the lowest in comparison with several countries in the region. Thus, the average delivery price is 203 lei per MWh, with a maximum of 276 lei per MWh.

Source: Agerpres

Extraordinary meeting of the National Committee for Macro-prudential Supervision: OUG 114/2018 on the agenda The General Council of the National Committee for Macro-prudential Supervision (CNSM) decided to discuss the conclusions of the impact of OUG 114/2018 on the banking system within a two-week period, next meeting being scheduled for February 18. The meeting of the CNSM – an institution that brings together the government and the National Bank – was imperatively demanded by Mugur Isarescu earlier this year, in an unprecedented attack on the executive body.

Source: G4Media

Black Sea Oil and Gas is not decided yet Even though that the authorization from Ministry of Energy was issued, Mark Beacom, General Director of BSOG, informs that a final decision regarding offshore exploitation is not ready yet. He does hope to become the first gas offshore gas company in the XV Midia perimeter in 2020, after the discovery of two deposits containing 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas in an area located 120 kilometers off the Black Sea, but the impact of the changes legislation through OUG 114 on the investment company’s plans is negative

Source: FinancialIntelligence

ANRE will charge an annual fee of 2% only on the margin resulting from sales, not on the entire turnover for energy and gas suppliers Turnover of electricity and natural gas suppliers and traders, which will be subject to the 2% annual tax collected by ANRE, increased 20 times, from 0.1%, through GEO no. 114/2018 adopted at the end of last year will not include expenses included in sales prices with the purchase of energy and gas as commodity directly from producers, with regulated distribution, transport, storage, system and trading services, cogeneration and excise duties invoiced to final customers. This avoids the cascade accumulation of tax liabilities on logistics chains in the energy sector.

Source: Profit

Hungary is stressing Romania for gas in the Black Sea Hungarian officials make pressures on Romania regarding Black Sea gas, saying it is a „huge problem” that OMV postponed its investment decision in the Neptun Deep offshore gas extraction project. Hungarian political scientist Szijjarto accuses Romania of jeopardizing energy security by violating commitments to interconnect gas pipelines and ensure the reversibility of gas flows.

Source: Adevarul