“Romania, beyond many things that function less well, has nevertheless shown in recent years that, in the field of circularity, we can also be an example of good practices,” said Mircea Fechet, Deputy, Parliament of Romania during the Circular Economy Conference organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.

“As regards those fine mechanisms related to parliamentary procedure, they must always exist. It now depends on how we interpret the subtlety with which each side seeks to impose its point of view,” he said.

“I strongly believe in dialogue, and I believe the last thing a legislative amendment should generate would be a situation in which the business environment suffers. On the contrary, the result we pursue every time is intended to be a positive one, while understanding at the same time that whenever a legislative amendment occurs, whether at European or national level, there is an adjustment effort, there are technological flows that must constantly be modified and adapted, and there are costs associated with all these things,” Fechet added.

Key statements

• “The question we always ask is to what extent those costs were justified, and to what extent the overall result is a favorable one. Returning to my favorite example, the Deposit Return System, there were so many costs and so many efforts made by producers, by retailers, by the company, and by every citizen,” said Mircea Fechet, Deputy, Parliament of Romania.
• “At the end of the day, we proved that it can be done in Romania as well. If we look at the impact on GDP, if we look at the thousands of people who today have a job thanks to the Deposit Return System, from any angle we examine this mechanism, it consistently shows us a positive impact,” he said.
• “Today, when we can draw the line and reach conclusions, I believe we can say without any doubt that it was the right choice for Romania and the right choice for each of us. Returning to legislative amendments, of course the expansion of the DRS system must be thoroughly discussed with the industry,” Fechet stated.
• “I fully understand the resistance and concern with which some may view legislation that would extend the Deposit Return System beyond what we initially planned. However, we have three and a half months left until August, when PPWR enters into force. And I would also add that Romania’s problem has never been one of transposition,” he said.
• “Romania’s problem is often the way in which we understand and apply the law. That is where we are deficient, because while everything seems so clear and so simple regarding the flows, the targets, and what each of us — from the citizen to the Government of Romania — must do, there are situations where we have already been condemned for the second time by the European Court and are paying perhaps tens of thousands of euros in penalties and fines every week. Today we are discussing what we need to do in the future, while forgetting the major backlogs related to things we should already have done,” said Mircea Fechet, Deputy, Parliament of Romania.