“Romania’s greatest vulnerability is not resource scarcity, but the gap between strategic potential and implementation capacity. Therefore, without fast execution, Romania risks becoming: a transit market instead of an energy leader, and losing industrial competitiveness due to volatile energy prices.

The biggest risk is that Romania has the assets to become a regional energy powerhouse, but not yet the institutional speed and infrastructure resilience required to secure that position,” Roy Brilant, COO Energy & Infrastructure, Hagag Europe said during Energy CEO Forum organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.

Key statements:

• The most urgent decision Romania must make in the next 2–3 years is to massively accelerate strategic energy infrastructure investments and execution. It urgently needs to prioritize a national strategy for firm and flexible power capacity – combining gas from Neptun Deep, storage, grid modernization, and nuclear reliability – before fully phasing out coal.
• As we see it, Romania should ensure long-term regulatory and fiscal stability by avoiding sudden tax changes, price interventions, or unpredictable amendments to energy legislation, which are the main concerns for large investors.
• Romania already has the strategic assets investors are looking for; the key challenge is creating a predictable, credible, and execution-oriented environment that turns interest into long-term capital.
• Romania has major strategic advantages, deriving from its rare combination of diversified energy resources and its geographical positioning: Black Sea gas, nuclear potential, renewables, hydro, and a regional interconnection position.
• These attributes create a stronger long-term energy security landscape and a growth potential than many countries in the region cannot reach – this is mainly why we chose diversify our investments and enter the local energy market through Hagag Energy.
• Likewise, compared with neighbouring markets, Romania’s market risk is considered moderate due to its large domestic market and strategic EU/NATO positioning, but regulatory risk remains higher for us as investors, mainly due to policy unpredictability and changing taxation.
• Nonetheless, Romania is more attractive and more stable than several Southeast European markets because it combines resource availability, EU funding access, and relatively strong macroeconomic fundamentals.
• Romania’s strongest competitive advantage is the combination of strategic resources, regional relevance, and diversification — but unlocking its full potential depends on building long-term regulatory credibility and execution confidence.
• For Romania, coordinated planning between energy infrastructure, emerging industrial hubs, transport corridors, and smart urban and suburban expansion will be essential to maximizing investment attractiveness, strengthening eligibility for EU funding, and supporting sustainable long-term economic growth.
• Because the most competitive economies will not be those with isolated energy projects, but those capable of integrating energy infrastructure into a broader vision of modern, resilient, and future-ready urban development.