Decisions taken in the government meeting

The energy cards, in circulation, were supplied with a new installment worth 700 lei for each beneficiary, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced. It is about the help that more than 1.5 million vulnerable Romanians receive in order to be able to pay their energy bills, to which at this stage are added another 370 people who have recently entered the system or who in the meantime have changed their address home. The Government rejected the RetuRO company's request to postpone for next year the implementation of the waste guarantee-return system and wants the system to come into operation from November 30, as established. Also, the Executive adopted measures to support agricultural producers, especially those who were affected by the import of cheap grain from Ukraine. Andrei Serban reports.

Reporter: The RetuRo company, which was established by beverage manufacturers and merchants to manage the waste return-guarantee system, requested the postponement of the implementation of this system until next year. The government refused this proposal, which would be the third from 2021 until today, because it does not consider the company's reasons to be well argued, said the Minister of the Environment, Mircea Fechet.

Mircea Fechet: More or less well-founded reasons, the vast majority of them refering to issues that they should have done and have not, but I am convinced that there is enough time until November 30 for those from the ReturRO company to recover everything they did not do and should have done until today.

Reporter: The executive also adopted a normative act that will grant two lei for each liter of diesel fuel used in agriculture last year to support especially the farmers who were affected by the import of cheap grain from Ukraine. The novelty is that individual farmers will also receive this money, as specified by the relevant minister, Florin Barbu.

Florin Barbu: It is the first time that we grant such support for diesel fuel used in agriculture for all farmers, regardless of the form of organization. In total, over 360 thousand farmers will benefit from this support.

Reporter: The Minister of Agriculture also said that this subsidy will not be offered, however, for the entire amount of diesel used, but only for half of it.

Translated by: Radu Matei