In the energy industry, decision makers act as if they defy any law of physics, economics, management or common sense. The main principles of the future Energy Strategy are clearly explained in the National Defense Strategy: continuity, adaptability, flexibility, sustainability and predictability. Consistency was manifested only in official crimes, adaptability and flexibility – in the preservation of the vile system of hanging and pumping money to organized economic criminal groups, and stability and predictability – exclusively in the excessive bureaucracy that destroys the Romanian energy industry. Otherwise, only smiles to the accompaniment of triumphal trumpets playing what is whispered in the headphones.

It is worth at least starting with the last three commandments of the Decalogue of Moses: do not steal, do not lie, do not covet, which we believe can make the world a better place.

During the two and a half years I wrote for Contributors, I constantly referred to the theory. I just want to remind (without quotation marks) some concepts, using examples, about which less is written.

Energy security is a condition for the existence of the Romanian state, an inalienable and inalienable international right arising from the state’s right to its energy resources and from European and Euro-Atlantic treaties, which should become one of the long-term management goals. Energy security involves ensuring the necessary energy consumption from the point of view of the availability of resources and the availability of long-term access. Availability also depends on the price!

Economic (and energy) security can be reduced to practically relevant issues:

• the ability of states to support independent production units in the global market,
• the ability of states to have access to energy sources and strategic materials,
• the possibility that economic dependence on the global market will be used to achieve political goals,
• the possibility that the global market will increase economic inequality between countries,
• the risk that economic globalization, which leads to the reduction of the economic functions of the state, will give rise to an underground economy, illegal trade, technology trade, damage to the environment,
• the risk of the world economy falling into a crisis due to incorrect economic policies, weak political leadership, weak international institutions, and financial instability.

We must emphasize that Romania must agree with the EU’s energy strategy, but take into account the problems caused by its proximity to the Black Sea. Romania has its own architecture of the energy industry, which is the result of the availability of resources, the needs of the economy or history.

We haven’t had an Energy Strategy (passed through Parliament) for 15 years, so we can put some emphasis on the developments of recent months to take them into account when designing the future strategy.

• Romania has the necessary resources, but lacks the capacity for gas extraction and electricity generation to ensure energy self-sufficiency. (Is no one responsible for the situation we find ourselves in?)
• Romania has become a net importer of energy. (We understand that the technologies of the 1950s and 1960s—coal and gas, so the safety—that we have are polluting and low-return, and most of them should be shut down. We have not replaced this lack of capacity for creating security! We struggle in good years to put the bitter thermal power plant in Iernut into operation and we fail? Doesn’t this somehow undermine the economy? We have closed several dozen SACETs that play an important role in the production of electricity. We also ran out of thermal energy and without electricity!)
• Decision-makers copy European directives, even though energy policy is no longer relevant or was wrong in the first place. Thanks to the “Green Deal” and “Fit for 55”, the EU is moving from a Russian gas monopolist to a Chinese one. The strategic materials, metals and rare earth elements used to make photovoltaic panels are 80% monopolized by China, and the production of magnets is also 90% owned by China. (Let’s look at the final straw: the “sunshine tax” ordinance passed in the 2018 law, which could be amended tomorrow.)
• Romania has ceded an important part of its energy sovereignty and has a dependency imposed by other state or non-state actors that can be used to achieve political goals. (A recent example is Austria, which opposed Romania’s entry into the Schengen area, demanding economic benefits for OMV.)
• Romania could not find interdependence to prevent the possibility of blackmailing other states, could not create a win-win situation, a reasonable dependence. (Perhaps it will be possible with the Republic of Moldova.)
• Romania cannot resist stopping economic inequality imposed by other states or multinational corporations – look at the closure of Arpechim Pitesti by OMV, which removed it from the petrochemical market and developed a petrochemical industry in Austria, a country with no resources! )
• Romania found itself in a situation where various foreign companies occupy the positions of oligopolists or monopolists in the energy sector, which led to the reduction of the economic functions of the state. (examples below!)

Taking into account the definition of the term Fr threat understood from the point of view National security “as the actions of someone or something that could potentially harm national interests,” it follows that “security policy” should be considered from the point of view of threat analysis. Threats should trigger appropriate harm reduction responses. It can be said that Romania is under the risk and energy threat of policies carried out by companies (most of which belong to other states) that have different interests, and not always economic ones. Here are examples: oil and gas production – Austria (OMV), gas distribution – Germany (Eon) and France (Engie), electricity distribution – Italy (Enel), fuel distribution – Hungary (MOL), Russian Federation (Gazprom and Lukoil). ), Kazakhstan (KazMunayGaz), Azerbaijan (Socar). All these states have a more or less visible policy of seizing political influence. For decades, some of them have maintained energy relations with the Russian Federation, which imposes an energy policy unfavorable to Romania.

“Economic protection (including energy) belongs to state bodies that have powers established by laws corresponding to this field of activity. It is aimed at the production and circulation of resources, increasing national competitiveness in the globalized economy, protecting databases and technology transfer, combating the illegal exploitation of patents, computer disinformation and counterfeiting.

The European Commission understood that “in economic terms, collective defense can contribute to raising the rating of the state, increasing the confidence of strategic foreign investors in the stability of the business environment in this country, and improving the exchange of goods and services with foreign partners.” Signs of collective defense are: voluntariness, selectivity, openness, permissiveness, organization, legal basis, legality, restraint.

Thus, taking into account common interests and overcoming the selfish economic interests of transnational companies, the countries of the European Union, starting with the second mandate of the Barroso Commission, began (with difficulty) to develop a common defense policy. The European Energy Strategy is one such document, which creates a strategy for collective defense in the energy sphere of the Union and neighboring countries against potential pressures. From February 24, 2022, we can consider this document to have expired, because all the rules in the energy markets have changed, after energy war waged by Russia against the EU, a war with actions, connotations and references to territory intelligence and security. In the last period, we notice that the states allied with Romania also threatened energy security, that is, collective defense no longer worked.

The conclusion is that Romania needs a reboot of everything that has existed so far in the energy industry and finding new ways to provide the economy and the population with energy at reasonable prices.

Edit later: about an underwater green energy (RES) cable from Azerbaijan through Georgia, under the Black Sea to Romania.

Azerbaijan does not produce renewable energy! The World Factbook (CIA website) reports that this country generated only 5.8% of its electricity from renewable sources in 2020. The total volume of production in 2020 was 7,766 TW, and exports were 1,491 TW. It turns out that in 2020, 0.445 TW was generated from hydro, wind, solar and biomass. In two years, it is unlikely that any country will radically change its energy balance! Read the entire article and leave comments on Contributors.ro