Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă admitted that the Government was wrong when it decided to cap the price of firewood at 400 lei per cubic meter and announced that the Executive will take corrective measures.
“At the Ministry of the Environment, an analysis was made of how much a cubic meter of wood costs in Romsilva. The average price they communicated to us…in the analysis we did before making the decision, 200 lei per cubic meter was mentioned for wood, and we considered that 400 lei per cubic meter somewhat covers the other costs that enters into the whole process of securing firewood. It turns out that it is not exactly in line with reality, so we will take corrective measures. We have the power to recognize where we are wrong and take measures accordingly,” said the prime minister, during a press conference at the IVECO military vehicle factory in Petrești.
The Government adopted an Emergency Ordinance on October 5, which capped the final prices to the population at a maximum of 400 lei/m3 for the following types of wood materials, necessary for heating in the cold season: firewood, wood scraps, wood chips derived from wood, sawdust.
Just few days after the GEO came into force, things went crazy: large stores no longer sell this product, the communal warehouses are almost empty, arguing they lose money if selling at the price imposed by the state, while customers started to resort to the offers on the black market.
The wood industry association PROLEMN claims that the problem can be solved by granting consumer vouchers.
A report by the WWF, an NGO fighting for environment matters, has shown how the Government’s new emergency ordinance not only fails to protect ordinary people, but it laso kills small businesses and encourages fraud in the system.