Pro Consumers Association requests resignation of Energy Minister

The Pro Consumers Association (APC) is requesting PM Nicolae Ciuca to dismiss Virgil Popescu, the Minister of Energy, because he urged the population to not pay their energy bills, and this type of populist statements creates social chaos, Agerpres reports.

"The Pro Consumers Association (...) has noted with concern the populist message of the Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu, who urged the population to not pay their high energy bills. We are reminding Virgil Popescu, the Minister of Energy, that according to article 42, paragraph 6 of Law nr. 51/2006 of community services of public utilities, "The bill, issued for services of public utilities is an enforceable title". Such populist statements do not solve the problem regarding the impossibility of paying gas and electricity bills for millions of Romanians, but rather it creates economic and social chaos, which is why the Pro Consumers Association is requesting Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca to dismiss Virgil Popescu, the Minister of Energy," says a press release sent by APC to AGERPRES on Thursday.

Furthermore, the association is requesting the PM to adopt, through an emergency ordinance, economic measures such as the elimination of the VAT for electricity, gas, firewood, pallets and fuels for the period of February 1, 2022 - June 30, 2022 and the elimination of the cogeneration tax, the green certificate tax, excises and other taxes included in the prices of electricity, gas, firewood, pallets and fuels for the period of February 1, 2020 - June 30, 2022.

Furthermore, the organization is requesting the elimination of the VAT for bread, milk, eggs, meat, cooking oil, fruits and vegetables.

"In the event that the Romanian Government will not apply the measures mentioned above for the period of February 1, 2022 - June 30, 2022, we will contemplate during the spring of this year foreclosures for hundreds of thousands of families and an alarming increase of poverty of the Romanian population," the press release points out.

The Pro Consumers Association (APC) is a public utilities organization, status obtained through Government Decision nr. 1106/2005, with an uninterrupted activity of over 31 years in the field of defending rights and economic interests of consumers (www.apc-romania.ro), member of the European Consumers Organization since 2005, the only organization of consumers in Romania qualified to introduce actions in justice based on Directive nr. 1828/2020 regarding actions in representation for protecting collective interests of consumers.