Romania’s energy security, as important as food security (Environment Minister Fechet)

Romania’s energy security is as important as food security and we would not want to have real conflicts over water resources in this area, Environment, Water and Forests Minister Mircea Fechet said on Tuesday at the end of a meeting with the ministers of agriculture and energy.

„We wouldn’t want to have real conflicts on water resources this summer, because it is very difficult to establish who has priority when a farmer-entrepreneur in the zootechnical sector, for example, risks running out of water when in a maximum of one week a crop is totally compromised if he has no access to water. When the entire population of a city or a county does not have access to drinking water, neither does the industry, or the energy sector, and Romania’s energy security is just as important as food security. Last but not least, we are interested in the state of Romania’s water bodies, whether we are talking about underground water reserves or underground water. From the quantitative point of view, from the point of view of the degree of filling of the hydropower accumulations in Romania, from the qualitative point of view of these resources, of course we monitor them and take appropriate measures. I am glad that today we were able to discuss a significant part, I would say, of the problems Romanian farmers are facing,” Fechet emphasized.

According to the minister, 2025 could also be one of the driest years in history in the context of climate change.

„Perhaps it would not be a bad thing to continue to organize such discussions on a rotating basis, at sufficiently small intervals, whether we are talking to farmers or to the industry that needs water. All things considered, as far as I am concerned, and in the context of the climate changes that we are all feeling and in relation to the concern that this year could also be another in the series of drought years and discussing the fact that agriculture is the area most dependent on climate change, we have met early on to find solutions together for Romanian farmers, to ensure that we do not lose the competitiveness that we already have and to clarify any problems in time. I think it is also a political signal that three ministers with closely related fields are discussing in advance and trying to find solutions to undesirable situations,” Fechet emphasized.

Minister of Environment, Water and Forests, Mircea Fechet, had a working meeting on Tuesday with Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barbu, and Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, in which they discussed making procedures more flexible in terms of obtaining authorizations/permits/agreements issued by the two central institutions and from the territorial structures, as well as the identification of legislative aspects that can be improved in the context of the 2025 irrigation campaign.