The coming heating season could be the most difficult experienced by Europe in up to 60 years, Romanian Deputy Prime Minister Hunor Kelemen has warned.
“First of all we, the European Union, will pay for the sanctions against Russia,” Kelemen said in an interview with Romania’s B1 TV on Wednesday.
“Europe, the European Union, we must say frankly that we will all pay the price for this this winter, and unfortunately, right now, there are no signs that the end of the war is coming,” the politician added, referring to the ongoing Ukrainian security crisis.
“This will be a harsh winter, and possibly the harshest winter in the past 40-50-60 years, and, unfortunately, for the whole of Europe,” Kelemen warned.
Kelemen nevertheless expressed support for sanctions against Russia, suggesting that “there were no other levers of influence” which Bucharest or Brussels could have applied against Moscow over its military operation in Ukraine.
“We can meet about 80 percent of Romania’s needs in the gas market, but we have to buy about 2 billion cubic meters on the world market, and if we don’t buy it, of course we’re going to have a problem. But I am confident that we will buy the gas so that there will be electricity, and that thanks to compensation we will be able to survive the winter,” the official said.
Romania has traditionally relied on Russia for about 40 percent of its oil supplies and 15 percent of its gas, and produces about 30 percent of its oil and 85 percent of its gas domestically. Earlier this year, Bucharest indicated that it would support EU efforts to dramatically cut down dependence on Russian energy.
The EU is facing what is shaping up to be the region’s most severe inflationary and energy price crunch since the 1970s Arab oil embargo and stagflation crisis, with inflation rates and oil and gas prices already climbing upwards at the start of the year compounded by Brussels’ push to reduce consumption of Russian hydrocarbons.
The restrictions, meant to “punish” Russia for its military operation in Ukraine, appear to have partially backfired, with a Bloomberg report last week citing Chinese and Indian customs data indicating that Moscow had reoriented vast amounts of energy to Asia, allowing energy companies to rake in record profits.