Romania needs to do its homework in order to become a true beneficiary of the European Union’s so-called “Green Deal,” the plan to make the Union emission-neutral by 2050, RMDSZ MEP Gyula Winkler said at a press conference in Déva/Deva on Monday.
“Public opinion thinks that the country will receive financial resources and there will be investments. We will not receive anything automatically; we will need to submit tender applications and call upon these resources,” Winkler said.
He pointed out that the EU funds earmarked so far for assisting the poorest EU member states are but a small fraction of what the ecological shift will cost Romania. The EU will set up a Just Transition Fund of EUR 100 billion for the 2021-27 budgetary period, whose main beneficiaries will be Germany, Poland and Romania.
“Out of this amount, the value of non-refundable grants is only 7.5 billion euros. I think it is childish to be happy that in this respect Romania is second or third among the beneficiaries because these subsidies only cover a fraction of what needs to be done in the country,” Winkler said, adding that Romania must devise a comprehensive plan for the green transition that must include legislation, the banking system and the public and private sectors of the economy.
“We lack the wisdom, experience and legal framework to effectively attract investments,” Winkler said. “No investors will come to Romania because (European Commission President) Ursula von der Leyen told them so, only when they can see bankable and profitable investment plans.”
Winkler also said that the European Union should find new money to put in the transition fund, instead of the controversial idea of Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans, who would fund the money required at the expense of cohesion and agricultural funds.
Title image: RMDSZ MEP Gyula Winkler (source: Facebook)
