Debate contributions by Dan NICA

Madam President, one of the priorities of the Cyprus Presidency should be electricity prices. In Eastern Europe ‐ Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus ‐ electricity prices have become absolutely prohibitive for many people. For Romanians, in Romania, they are now minus 20 degrees, and these prices have become up to 150 euros higher than in Western European countries ‐ 251 euros/MWh. This seriously affects the life of the common man, who is forced to choose between buying food, medicine, food and paying his electricity bill, and at the same time firms have a big competitiveness problem, they have started to kick people out, and this seriously affects everyday life. In the European package, we are committed to remedying this difficult situation, the lack of interconnection and to taking those measures that can lead to a single energy market in the European Union and lower electricity prices. This is our commitment, and together with the European Commission and you, we want to do this quickly. People need solutions now.

Madam President, Mr Séjourné, you are the Vice-President of the European Commission, you are the Commissioner responsible for industry, and together we have taken several decisions, including the one we are referring to today: how to get Europe to have access, European industry to have access, to strategic materials, to critical materials. I have adopted the regulation, the calls for projects have been opened and I give you the situation in my country, in Romania. We have submitted projects including: Salrom submitted a project and won it - for the extraction of graphite. I have to mention that more graphite is produced in Romania than in Norway. And two more projects: one on magnesium and one on copper. Unfortunately, their stage is as frozen as it was a year ago, so there is no financing, and that is because the European Investment Bank, Mr Vice-President of the European Commission, does not have those measures and mechanisms that implement projects declared strategic by you, by the European Commission, which makes them remain on paper. Then we complain that China does not give us access to critical and strategic materials, but we do nothing with ours. Romania has 16 of the 32 critical and strategic materials needed for the European Union. Unfortunately, these measures are not being implemented and I, in your place, would send a task force to go and take care of these projects in every country and see why nothing happens, so that we can all have an accurate picture.

Madam President, Commissioner Šefčovič, the European Council should focus on the competitiveness of the European economy. But unfortunately, in Romania, in my country, what we all find is that we have the highest, or among the highest, electricity prices in the European Union. Yesterday, 150 euros per megawatt hour, five times higher than in Spain, three times higher than in France, 40% higher than in Germany. This makes the Romanian economy suffer a lot, because these things are found in prices, lack of competitiveness, job losses and a difficult situation. Why this? Because Romania's interconnection with the west is denied, a situation that we also encounter for Bulgaria and Greece. The interconnection between Hungary and Austria is not yet made, between Austria and Slovakia, as well as this lack of action on the part of the European Commission is causing huge damage to Romania. And this only leads to an increase in extremism and a situation of discontent that can only be resolved in one way: Decisive action now. Now, while it's not too late.

Madam President, President von der Leyen, the recent violations of Polish airspace by Russian drones remind us that in Romania this has been happening regularly for two years and you need to reaffirm your support in order for Romania's borders to be inviolable and protected. Secondly, there is great concern in Romania, President von der Leyen, because the Cohesion Fund proposals are jeopardising the completion of the objectives through regional policy in Romania, the construction and modernisation of schools, hospitals, water supplies, and I think you need to review this. The second issue is the proposal on the common agricultural policy. A reduction of EUR 25 per hectare, President von der Leyen, for farmers in Romania, for a small farm can mean the rate at a bank, a rate. So this is unacceptable and it counts on your proposal to support the consumption of European agricultural products, the consumption of Romanian agricultural products. Please review this proposal.

Madam President, President Costa, Commissioner Šefčovič, what I would have liked to see in the Council conclusions and I have not found are the concrete measures to make electricity prices in the European Union cost-based, reasonable. It is complicated and very difficult to go to my country, to Romania, and to tell Romanians why they have to pay electricity prices at home, twice, four times higher than in the other countries of the European Union. Why do Romanian companies have to pay 50% higher electricity prices than Western European countries? We are talking about competitiveness. What kind of single market is this in which all the pressure and all the weight is on the shoulders of Romania and Romanians, while this electricity market does not work? And Mr Costa, Mr Šefčovič, I said something else, that we will not leave anyone behind and we will not accept that someone is put in a position not to buy medicines, clothes, so that they can pay for their electricity. Unfortunately, this does not happen and it is sad.

Madam President, High Representative, you are the person who will manage all the things pertaining to the future of the European Union from a military, security point of view and in preparation for the NATO summit, I would like to tell you some of the things that are important for Romania. The eastern flank must be treated as a strategic priority in Europe's security architecture. Romania, as a state on the front lines of NATO and the European Union borders, needs a strengthened presence, including through investments in military infrastructure, mobility and interoperability to respond to conventional and hybrid threats. Cybersecurity and hybrid warfare are no longer future risks, we have lived them and we are living them now. Romania has been the target of these hybrid attacks, including in the electoral campaigns that took place in recent months in Romania, unfortunately. We are very vulnerable in the energy sector. 80% of the inverters that are used in the energy systems in the European Union, the High Representative, are from outside the European Union and, moreover, all data is collected and transmitted outside the European Union and all these systems are managed by entities located outside the European Union. It is unacceptable for a strategic and impactful industry and it can have a catastrophic negative impact to accept these things. Strengthening defence capabilities and the need to invest in the defence industry is a necessity both for Romania and for the other states, but I want to draw your attention to new technologies. The European Union must invest there, we need defence, defence at the highest technological level, because this is the only way we can ensure that we are protected and that our democracy cannot be subjected to any threats, nor can our identity as European nations even be questioned.

Madam President, Mr Séjourné, you are the Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for industry, for the strategic industries of the European Union, for steel, for aluminium, and there are high hopes for the measures that you have to take. Energy is a main reason why these strategic industries – steel, aluminium – are uncompetitive in the European Union. Mr. Vice President, in Galati, those people there produce steel, they do not produce gold bullion. So there can't be a price of energy that's out of bounds. Spot prices in Romania increased twice last month, compared to a year ago. Everyone is waiting for you to take action with those who have dealt with speculation, with misleading prices and who have led to an unprecedented increase in electricity and natural gas prices. Now we have seen that the price of natural gas of 60 euros is already being prepared. Well, with these prices we won't be able to do anything, Mr Vice-President of the European Commission. That is why I am asking you to take these emergency measures and especially to see what is happening with the REMIT investigations. ACER has three hundred-and-a-half cases of deceptive practices, no action. I also ask you to do something about the interconnection between Austria and Hungary. Eastern Europe, my country, Romania, Greece and Bulgaria pay a higher price because they refuse those 20 kilometers of interconnection between Austria and Hungary.

Madam President, Mr Séjourné, you are the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission and today you are bringing the news that hundreds of thousands of workers in the steel and metals industries, including aluminium, are expecting for the European Union. And I want you to know that this signal was more than expected, for several reasons: First, unreasonably high electricity prices have made this industry uncompetitive. Secondly, imports from countries outside the European Union, which are obviously not subject to duties, carbon dioxide or other duties, cause the European Union market to be flooded with products that are at low prices, much lower than the normal price. And the third question: Clearly, the fact that we export 10 million tonnes of iron and aluminium scrap to countries that themselves prohibit the export of scrap is at least naive, not to use a word that would not be appropriate. This hope that we all bring today also means funding. The European Investment Bank must finance steel and aluminium production plants in the European Union and not have an attitude that is inappropriate and, above all, unacceptable.

Madam President, Vice-President Šefčovič, President Costa, we all need to take urgent action today so that the European Union's strategic industries can withstand, survive and have a future that has certainty, that we are talking about the steel, aluminium, chemical fertilizers, automotive, energy, chips industries. They are all under tremendous stress, because, on the one hand, we have energy prices that are far, far too high for us to be competitive, and on the other hand, they all come, some impose customs duties, others try to trick us, with exports coming at a cost price that is unreasonably low in the European Union. And all this comes to tell us one thing: the conclusions of the European Council are good, we need to take action. The period of naivety, political statements and inaction has passed. These measures must be taken today, so that tomorrow is not too late, so that we can also save jobs and have a future that we can secure for the citizens of the European Union and for the European Union.

Mr President, Commissioner Jørgensen, you are the Commissioner for Energy of the European Union and you have a very challenging mandate before you. The European Union's electricity market is in an extremely worrying situation. In my country, Romania, last month, the price of electricity reached EUR 160 per megawatt-hour, more than twice as high as in the same month last year and higher than in France, Germany, where prices were low, much lower than in Romania. This situation needs to be resolved urgently, because it has led to an extremely worrying situation for the economy, for example, of Romania. 70 large companies are in danger of relocation because these costs of electricity and natural gas make it impossible to carry out economic activities. More than 300,000 people can lose their jobs. One in five Romanian families has trouble paying their energy and gas bills at the same time in the same month and buying food or clothes. This requires an immediate approach and rapid change. On the one hand, we need to know what happened and what happens to those who resorted to deceptive practices, who lied and broke the law. There are over 300 cases in the investigation and I want these solutions to emerge, Commissioner. In addition, we want a market, an energy and gas exchange market, to be fully transparent: who sells, how much they sell, who are the shareholders, why these windfall revenues arise, windfall profits that have become the norm in the European Union. These things require an approach and I know you can do this. You have my support and that of the European Parliament. Take action quickly and without any hesitation.

Madam President, Commissioner, this is very good news – an action plan for a revitalisation of the European automotive industry is what everyone expects, because the situation is very bad. Why is this situation so unfortunate that we are going through this period? The reasons are simple: an internal market that is invaded, flooded with products coming from outside the European Union, cars from China, one and a half million annually, exactly three car factories in the European Union that do not pay taxes. And obviously their cars are even cheaper. In Romania, in Piteşti, Dacia pays for everything it buys, they have embedded in them the taxes on carbon dioxide. China is not. So what is a real competition? Second issue: Batteries buster. Yes, so this issue of helping battery manufacturers in the European Union is absolutely vital. We also have the necessary technology, we also have research programs and all these things must be found in a final price that is affordable.

Madam President, Mr Vice-President of the European Commission, there is great hope for your mandate, and I must confess that everyone expected the first concrete measures to support European industry to emerge in the first 100 days, so that we can have a process of transforming this industry into a clean industry. Today, when we speak, unfortunately, the situation is very bad. European industry is in such a bad situation as it has never been. That it is steel – by the way, the plant in Galati is in great danger of ceasing operations and ten thousand people losing their jobs, ten thousand families – is the same for the aluminium industry, the same for the cement industry, for the chemical fertiliser industry. Because we have failed to take those measures, we have high energy prices, imports from countries outside the European Union that are made with high carbon dioxide emissions and that have invaded the European Union market, the lack of financing from any source – European programmes, the European Investment Bank that refuses to finance all these programmes. Vice-President of the European Commission, these measures must be taken now. We are in the 12th hour and I implore you and I ask you to take these measures as soon as possible.

Madam President, President Costa, Commissioner Šefčovič, today we are discussing a programme to actually ensure the security of the European Union. For me as a Romanian and for my country it is extremely important to know not only that we are on the edge of Europe and that we have to defend the European Union on the eastern flank, but we have to make sure that we have and with what. I must assure Romanian citizens that they have to go about their daily lives, like all European citizens, and that there is no threat that would endanger their way of living, of conducting their lives in normal conditions. However, in the current global configuration, only if you are sufficiently armed are you respected. This is a lesson that we have learned, unfortunately, in recent years, and the period of naiveté of the European Union is over. We must have air defense shields, we must have drones, we must have anti-drone systems, we must have satellites, we must have systems to protect us, because only then will we be able to run our lives normally. In addition, we need to take care of our strategic industries. We must have steel, we must have aluminium produced in the European Union, because otherwise we will not be able to achieve anything that means securing our strategic interests.

This is exactly about the manipulation we were talking about, the manipulation that is present and that we all need to prevent, because every man must be responsible for what he says and be able to be appreciated or not for what he says. As far as you are concerned, those working on the campaign team had resigned and it was obvious that they had resigned because you intend to retire to the green table in favour of another candidate who, incidentally, is also part of a group on this side of the room. And as for the way you are appreciated, the Romanians have unfortunately said their word, the trash can.

Madam President, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, you announced today that the European Commission has started an investigation into TikTok's meddling and interference in the Romanian elections. I congratulate you, because when the European Commission starts such an investigation, it means that there are clear indications that there were major irregularities and major interference in the elections that took place in Romania, I mean the presidential elections first round. For those who look at us and wonder: What was Romania like with this TikTok? Let me quote a little bit from TikTok: 115 000 fake accounts removed, 45 million accounts that were prevented, so could not be achieved, 7 million fake likes, over 11 million fake follow-ups, over 1 100 accounts imitating the candidates for the Romanian Presidency. These are the official data provided by TikTok. This is the extent of the interference that a platform had in the presidential elections in Romania and, we must all say, the elections are between choosing those who are better, who have better programs, not those who manipulate algorithms, not those who send millions of fake accounts and millions of videos that are allegedly appreciated, because this distorts both democracy and the electoral campaign. The election campaign is based on appraisals, not on machines, not on algorithms that nobody knows how they work, not on appraisals that are false to create the image of a person who is admired, appreciated. Because all these things actually lead to what? At the occurrence of extremely dangerous phenomena. People who can be TikTok candidates, candidates of foreign powers and who influence in a coarse and impermissible manner democracy, as happened in the case of Romania. Madam Executive Vice-President, I want to ask you when will you implement the decisions as a result of this investigation? What is the time horizon? We will have presidential elections again in Romania. In the meantime, it will be in Germany. Will you take those measures to prevent this perversion of the democratic mechanism and the gross manipulation of elections in the case of Romania and in the case of the countries that are members of the European Union? I also want to ask you, Madam Executive Vice-President, do you have the courage to firmly apply, as the Digital Services Act says, a fine of 6% of TikTok's global turnover for how these manipulations of democratic elections took place?

Madam President, President von der Leyen, the Romanian delegation from the S&D Group will vote for you and the College of Commissioners today, because we believe in a strong and united Europe, but it is not a blank vote, it is a vote conditional on meeting some very clear and precise criteria for us, but also important ones. We want a social Europe, we want to have energy bills that people can pay without giving up what they need, and we want to have well-paid jobs and a competitive European industry. And we want something else, Mrs von der Leyen. On Sunday there were elections in Romania and we want to know who brutally and rudely interfered in the presidential elections in Romania. Who are these foreign entities? Who are those companies that bought for a lot of money and brutally influenced democracy? This intervention by you and the College of Commissioners, many of whom I know, must show that democracy cannot be bought in the European Union, in Romania, and that we want to know who gave the money, because we know what they took. They took TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. But who are those who gave money? Because if the toughest measures are not taken now for those who have broken European laws – national laws are our business – then it means that in the European Union anything and everything can be bought, and democracy must never be for sale.

Madam President, Commissioner, you said that without steel nothing would be possible in the European economy. And then, when I go to Galati, to the steel plant there, I have to tell the 10,000 people why they are actually trying to survive. Why is this the case in all steel-making plants in the European Union? Because, on the one hand, we have energy, electricity and gas prices that fluctuate, according to the Draghi report, from simple to double in the course of a single year, because the European funding you mentioned (and which is superb, but completely lacking) for the steel industry – both those that would belong to the European Commission and those that belong to the European Investment Bank – is completely missing, so we cannot decarbonise, and on the other hand we are flooded by steel imports from countries outside the European Union, countries that have no respect for environmental rules, have high emissions of carbon dioxide, while in the European Union we are forced to comply with the rules and pay taxes, which leads to a 15% higher steel price. How can we talk about competitiveness and what do we do to respect the jobs of these people?

Madam President, Commissioner, why is European industry losing competitiveness? Let's take two examples: 1. Steel industry: in steel we have lost over 20 million tonnes of capacity in the last two years for a few simple reasons: 1. the price of energy, which is also much too high and very volatile, from simple to double in one year and, on the other hand, the import from countries outside the European Union, which are obviously cheaper, that they do not pay taxes, neither carbon dioxide nor any other kind of taxes. And then two products appeared on the market: the very cheap one, outside the European Union, and the one in the European Union, and obviously everyone buys the cheap one. This has led to an increase in steel sales and a bankruptcy of many of those working in this industry. In the automotive industry – exactly the same situation. On the one hand, we who work in the European Union, in the car industry, have to pay all these taxes, including these energy prices, which are unacceptably high and very fluctuating. On the other hand, it has to cope with the import of cheap cars from countries such as China, where these imports of cars are subsidized, and by the state, where it does not have to pay the respective duties either. And then two cars appeared on the European Union market: one produced in China, which is obviously cheaper in these conditions, and the one produced in the European Union, at which price that is. At that time, fewer cars were sold from cars produced in the European Union, which caused profitability to fall, which led to factory closures and job losses that were in recent times. We need to do something and the solution is not to make them pay EUR 15 billion, rather to make them invest in research, development and in increasing the capabilities and performance of cars in the European Union.

Mr President, Vice-President Šefčovič, we are discussing the competitiveness of European industry and I would like to draw your attention today to the situation of the steel industry in the European Union economy. We have lost more than 20 million tonnes of steel capacity in the steel industry in the European Union in recent years, for two reasons: 1. energy prices, which had an absolutely unacceptable fluctuation. The difference in one year between the minimum and maximum price was 65% in 2022, and this difference increased by a further 15% in 2023. No one can make a business plan or survive when there is such volatility, and I believe that this measure of intervening quickly in the electricity market and decoupling the price of electricity from gas is an emergency. And secondly, imports from outside the European Union: we import steel that is not subject to duties, nor to carbon dioxide, nor to other duties, and obviously the steel industry in the European Union is uncompetitive. If we do not take these measures to correct this situation immediately, unfortunately, we will lose an industry and jobs that will seriously affect the economy, and tens and hundreds of thousands of employees.

Mr President, unfortunately, in Romania, in Galati, in one night, in five hours, seven people lost their lives, 7 000 houses were destroyed, more than in a day of war in Ukraine, tens of thousands of people lost everything. They ran out of clothes, nothing in their houses. All they had left was what they were wearing that fateful night. Floods, which some say have been unprecedented in the last 100 years, have brought about this disaster. They all mobilized: The Romanian government, the army, the gendarmerie, volunteers, people, companies, to help those who lost everything, everything, to be able to repair schools. Schools started in Romania on Monday. Many children were unable to go to school. My appeal is to the European Commission: money from the Solidarity Fund must be made available immediately. Flexible already existing European money! These people desperately need help now, and the magnitude of this disaster is far too great for a country like Romania and the possibilities that a government has. This response is the European response that we are all waiting for.

Mr President, Commissioner, how is the state of energy in the European Union? Let me tell you how it looks from Romania. Well, I had this: a period when prices, through 2022 and in 2023, went haywire. We found that this situation is almost general at the level of the European Union, that we are talking about an amount of tens, hundreds of billions of euros, which would have been money that was illegally taken from consumers in the European Union, from people who had to pay their bills at home, from companies that had to pay very high bills. I understand that afterwards, and with your support, but above all with the efforts of the European Parliament, we adopted a directive that punishes those who have stolen. There are seven hundred and twenty-nine cases, I think, in the investigation for about six months or eight months, and I want to know how many of these cases have been handled. What is the amount that was, according to the directive that we approved, confiscated from these firms that received illegal profits as a result of illegal practices of theft and deception? How many CEOs have been fined up to five million euros, as we approved the directive this spring? In addition, I want to know how we do so that we still have a market that operates on stock exchange criteria, because, as the report of the Financial Markets Supervisory Authority says, there are practices that are specific to stock exchanges, for example sales on shortWithout a stock exchange, let alone anyone who opposes the creation of an energy and gas exchange in the European Union is opposed to transparency, to knowing who the shareholders are, at what prices they sell, to whom they sell, how many profits they make. There's something else. These days, there was 700 euros a megawatt-hour of electricity in Romania. Well, Commissioner, there's something wrong. This is not a functioning market, that 700 euros for electricity is paid by someone, that electricity is consumed instantly. One paid for it at home, the man paid for it, the companies paid for it. So this non-functionality is something that we must continue to do, to deal with together with the new Commissioner for Energy. I want to thank you for listening to us every time we told you that certain things need to be done and we had a positive attitude from you and DG ENER, but things need to be put in order. Winter is coming again and we do not want to have those situations with energy prices, as the Draghi report said. The difference between the minimum price and the maximum price increased by 63% in 2022, in 2023 by a further 15%. Absolutely unacceptable!

Mrs Soşoacă, I want to tell you that I come from there – by the way, I changed my boots with my shoes so that I could come to Strasbourg – and I saw exactly what level of aid was granted from day one: water trucks because those people didn't have water, barracks, blankets, mattresses. Camps were brought in and set up so that people could stay somewhere because their houses had been destroyed. Today, the Government of Romania, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, approved 10,000 lei, the first initial tranche for helping these people, and further the aids that are granted are for these people to be able to pass through this difficult period. There are dozens of inspectors from the State Construction Inspectorate who are doing the evaluation for these people to receive the necessary help to rebuild their homes. My request was to the European Commission and to you, dear colleagues. An effort of solidarity is needed. The Government of Romania alone cannot rebuild 6 000 houses, and there is no way, without European help, to do so.

Madam President, Vice-President Šefčovič, in Galati, my region, there have been devastating floods these days that have destroyed more than 6 000 houses, dozens of roads and bridges and left tens of thousands of people with nothing, literally nothing. At this point, urgent financial help is needed so that we can bring these people back to life, send children to schools that have been devastated and show them that European solidarity is more important than anything. Also in my region is the largest steel production plant in Romania and in this part of Europe – and they are facing problems of so-called competitiveness. My message – and I know you feel the same way, Vice-President Šefčovič: how can you produce steel when you are in competition with those who come and bring steel into the European Union from countries outside the European Union and who do not pay carbon taxes? How can they be competitive when electricity and gas prices are rising from one day to the next without any justification whatsoever? All this shows how profound the transformation of our competitiveness and our policy must be in order for us to have an industrial future.