EnerMin Popescu pledges support for production at aluminium smelter Alro Slatina to resume

Energy Minister Virgil Popescu told today the trade unionists of aluminum producer Alro Slatina that he will support the resumption of the plant's activity, Agerpres reports.

"Alro Slatina will have my support! I met today with the leaders of the Alro trade union, the Aluminum Processing Trade Union and the Alroproduct Trade Union, to let them know that I will support the resumption of production," Virgil Popescu wrote on Facebook.

"At the end of the year, together with my colleagues in the government, I changed the legislative framework regarding the possibility of concluding bilateral stock exchange and over-the-counter contracts. More than that, state-owned producer companies are required to sell at least 40 percent of their production outside the day-ahead, intra-day and balancing markets so that there will be energy to supply industrial consumers. In addition, we will ensure long-term price predictability. We leave no one behind," Virgil Popescu added.

The SC Alro SA unions announced protests for today in front of the Slatina Prefecture Office over the situation caused by the rise in energy and gas prices.

"We are calling again on decision-makers to heed the fact that once production processes are even partially shut down, reopening the activity is extremely costly. Therefore, if solutions are not found quickly to continue the activity, the lost jobs are highly likely to be lost for good, with all the consequences arising from this: poverty and unemployment, loss of skills, chain economic effects in the region," said president of the "Cartel ALFA" National Trade Union Confederation Bogdan Hossu, as cited in release.

Cartel ALFA representatives said that they support these protest actions "in an effort to preserve jobs and all the rights of the SC Alro SA employees."

In a statement sent last year to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, Alro announced that it will scale down its primary aluminum production in 2022, due to the situation on the energy and gas markets, but will implement technological measures to allow a quick and efficient restart when the conditions in the energy sector return to normal.