Speaker Dragnea on offshore law:We couldn't accept that Romania keep energy dependence on Russians

Speaker of the Deputies' Chamber Liviu Dragnea stated on Monday that through the amendments brought to the offshore law aimed for Romania not to be energetically independent of Russia.

"This law shouldn't have been adopted in the form that came from the Senate, I don't want to accuse anyone, whether it was superficial or it wasn't a very careful analysis, but we couldn't accept in the Deputies' Chamber for Romania to further keep its energy dependence on the Russians. The fact that we put 50 percent of the total production on bilateral contracts and 50 percent on transactions on the Romanian market, it means that Romania becomes one of the few countries around the world to become energetically independent. Moreover, the zero surcharge could not be accepted because it's not possible for the Romanian state not to cash in anything," Dragnea stated in the plenary sitting of the Chamber of Deputies, at the debates on the bill regarding some necessary measures for implementing the oil operations by offshore oil perimeter contractors.

He denied the existence of any negotiations "behind closed doors," as the opposition representatives claimed.

"There weren't any negotiations behind any door, open or closed, there aren't any negotiations regarding a law. What I have presented you today was because I talked with my colleagues of the Deputies' Chamber and agreed together that prior to voting this law in one form or another, we should see in group what are the economic data, the financial data and the strategic advantages for Romania," the Social Democrat leader stated.