Ministry of the Environment to launch a program to buy electric minibuses

Alina Oprea

5 May, 2023 at 3:15 PM

The Minister of the Environment, Tanczos Barna, went to the Government meeting on Thursday with one of the finalist cars of the Best Electric Car Romania 2023 contest. The minister says that the future belongs to green transport and that he supports the purchase of electric cars through Rabla Plus. This year it will also launch a program for electric minibusses. This year, Romania reached the 19th edition of the Program to stimulate the renewal of the national car park, Rabla Clasic being one of the longest-running government programs and the 8th year since it grants subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles within the Rabla Plus Program. These programs contribute to the development of less polluting transport and to the improvement of air quality in urban agglomerations.

"Today we returned with Cseke Attila and Adrian Caciu from the Government meeting with one of the finalist cars of the Best Electric Car Romania 2023 contest. By the way, not only today but every day I only travel by electric car in Bucharest", the Minister of the Environment writes on Facebook.

The government aims to develop the charging infrastructure for electric cars, the minister states.

"The future belongs to green transport, so we support the purchase of electric cars through Rabla Plus, and this year we will also launch a program for electric minibusses and encourage public transport, cycling, or walking, not just Green Friday. The government, the UDMR, aims to develop the charging infrastructure for electric cars: that's what we do at the Ministry of Development and the MMAP", adds the Minister of the Environment, Tanczos Barna.

The budget allocated to the Rabla Classic Program 2023 is RON560 million (€112 million) and for the Rabla Plus Program, the allocated budget is RON780 million (€156 million).

Minister Barna Tanzos also said that the Rabla Classic program, intended for cars with thermal engines, will have a gradually reduced budget, by 5% per year, and the resulting money will go to Rabla Plus, a program dedicated to electric cars.

"Slowly, slowly, the budget for cars with internal combustion engines will be reduced. Rabla Clasic will decrease and Rabla Plus will increase so that we direct the money to the car market of the future. Certainly, the transition is transition and nothing will happen overnight. Until 2035, new cars with internal combustion engines can be put on the market, but we need to prepare the programs for that market of the future that inevitably comes. And ten years is not a very long time. This gradual transition will ensure increasing funding for electric cars and less for classic ones," said Barna Tanczos.

The Minister of the Environment explained that he decided to decrease the annual budget for Rabla Clasic by 5%.

"We have not set a deadline for the abolition of the program, but in 2035 it will certainly end. In fact, 2034 will be the last allocation of funds for Rabla Clasic. After that, this program will no longer exist because cars with heat engines will no longer be sold. In 2021, during the first discussions with representatives of car manufacturers and traders, we decided to make a program for four years. And we keep our promise. Thus, probably next year we will have to meet again and discuss what we will do in the next four years", he stated.

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