The 2Celsius Association has released a report showing that the Environment Fund Administration’s Rabla and Rabla Plus programs are NOT accessible to the majority of the population and do not benefit the environment. The program is unaffordable for low- and middle-income earners, clearly benefits only the auto industry, and fails to address mobility, the report said.

The report, commissioned by the 2Celsius association by researchers Natalia Ciobanu and Adela Fofiu and funded by the European Climate Foundation, analyzes Rabla and Rabla Plus from the perspective of social impact and poverty and other social issues related to mobility and access. addressed, with more than 5 billion lei allocated to the program over the past 16 years.

“A person with an average income in Romania needs 10-20 years to accumulate the money needed to buy a new car through the Rabla program. This is a very long period, and only from this we can understand how difficult the program is for most Romanians. At the moment, the program offers clear, obvious benefits only for the automotive industry, and in this case, perhaps it should be transferred to another ministry from the Ministry of the Environment”, – says Nataliya Chobanu.

What are the social problems of the Rabla program

• The program is exclusive and unavailable to low- and middle-income and low-educated people. Despite the fact that the wage level has been steadily increasing since 2005, this growth is not reflected in an increase in the purchasing power of citizens to the extent that they can afford to buy a new car relatively easily.

• Rabla/Rabla Plus aims to remove vehicles over 8-15 years old, however, 1.7 million vehicles were registered between 2018 and 2020, of which approximately 75% (ie around 1.4 million) are used.

• Practically, in these three years alone, at least as many cars older than 15 years were put on the market, as the Rabla/Rabla Plus program managed to remove in the 15 years since its launch (that is, 682,304 scrapped cars from 2005 to 2019).

• The official documents of the ASM do not present a strategy or vision for socio-economic impact that includes goals for the protection of vulnerable citizens.

• The program does not solve the problem of mobility, the growing number of car owners also shows that the population of Romania wants a level of mobility and access that exceeds what is currently offered by the public transport system, whether public or private.

• In its current form, more than 5 billion lei of AFM funds (state contributions) support people with incomes above the national average and ultimately make a more obvious and understandable contribution to the profits of car manufacturers and distributors than to welfare, mobility. and access to basic services of any other citizen.

Apart from the low social impact, the fact that there are five old cars registered in Romania for every new car, makes the Rabla program useless also from the point of view of recycling old cars.

“We ask the Ministry of Environment, Water Resources and Forests to carry out an impact analysis, review and strengthen the program based on clear environmental and social criteria, in line with the sustainable development goals pursued by Romania. We also demand the introduction of some accompanying measures, such as pollution taxation and restrictions on the import of old used cars, without which the Rabla program will not be able to achieve the stated goal of renewing the car fleet,” say representatives of the 2Celsius Association. .

Source: Dreamstime.com