The European Commission will examine whether the amendments adopted by Romania's Parliament to the decarbonization law could impact the fulfilment of NRRP milestone 114, which concerns energy-sector reform and the phased closure of coal and lignite-based power units, a Commission spokesperson told AGERPRES on Thursday.

'The Commission is aware that the Romanian Parliament adopted on 5 August 2026 amendments to the Decarbonisation law that, among other changes, affect the conditions for the decommissioning of coal and lignite-fired power plants and linking their closure to the availability of alternative similar low-carbon emissions sources. The Commission takes note of these amendments related to the Decarbonisation law, which is a key reform of the Romanian Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), whose entry into force formed the basis of the positive assessment of milestone 114,' the spokesperson said.

'The Commission will carefully review these amendments, which have not yet been promulgated by the Romanian President, and assess any potential risk of a reversal of milestone 114. In general, the Commission calls on all Member States to fully deliver on their commitments under the RRPs and recalls that any risks of reversals will be carefully reviewed, potentially entailing financial consequences,' the cited source added.

Brussels also said it is closely monitoring the security of electricity supply in Romania and is in contact with national authorities and European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), receiving continuous updates on the situation. At this stage, the Commission sees no immediate cause for concern, noting that supply remains stable and the market is functioning properly. The Commission is available to discuss and stands ready to advise on existing tools in the EU acquis to help address the effects of the drought, and ready to convene an ad hoc meeting of the Electricity Coordination Group, if necessary, the reply also states.

Regarding the 31 August deadline for coal-plant closures, the spokesperson reiterated that the Commission will carefully review the amendments to the decarbonisation law. 'The amendments conditioning coal closure on the availability of similar low carbon assets might affect the irreversibility of the closure of coal- and lignite capacities, previously assessed under milestone 114.'

The spokesperson also pointed to milestone 119A, 'part of the last payment request to be later submitted, which requires Romania to decommission a certain capacity of installed coal- and lignite-fired units (710 MW). Which specific units to close is Romania's decision.'

The Chamber of Deputies adopted On Wednesday the decarbonization bill with a PSD amendment stipulating that coal and lignite units may be phased out only after equivalent new capacity is built and commissioned.

PNL spokesperson Ionel Bogdan warned that repeated attempts to alter key legislation risk undermining commitments already met under the NRRP. 'We risk losing billions of euros from the NRRP because of a single law - the decarbonization law,' he said at Parliament. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Florin Stefan; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)

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