The price of diesel in Romania is unacceptably high and, given that it rose rapidly at the start of the conflict in the Middle East, it should fall just as quickly now that international prices for refined diesel and petrol have declined, Deputy Prime Minister and interim Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tanczos Barna said on Thursday at an industry conference.

He stressed that, unfortunately, the government had not decided to extend the measure capping commercial mark-ups.

'With regard to diesel, unfortunately, the measure limiting commercial mark-ups has not been extended. There were many discussions and arguments for and against when this measure was introduced. I am an economist and I believe in the free market. At the same time, in critical moments the state must intervene, regulate and correct certain market failures if the free market drives prices into dangerous territory. That regulation is no longer in place. What is unacceptable, in my view, is that while the price of a barrel of oil has returned to the level seen before the outbreak of the war - when the conflict involving Iran began, it was fluctuating between 71 and 73 dollars a barrel - today the price is back at that level. It has already fallen from the peak of almost 110 to 120 dollars a barrel. Under these circumstances, the price of diesel is unacceptably high,' the interim minister said.

In his view, if fuel prices increased relatively quickly when the conflict in the Middle East began, they should now decline at the same pace, given that international quotations have fallen.

'I have had several discussions with the largest operators on the market. I cannot agree with them entirely. I do not believe that Platts or the quotations for refined diesel or petrol should influence pump prices to this extent. There is room for improvement, and I believe that if the increase was rapid - I would not say extremely rapid, because I have to acknowledge that during that period in March there were operators who tried to keep prices lower and opted for a gradual, phased increase rather than a sharp rise - even so, the increase was swift. We should now see an equally swift reduction after crude oil prices have fallen,' Tanczos Barna explained.

Interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan met major private fuel retailers at the Victoria Palace on Wednesday to discuss fuel price developments and the possibility of further legislative intervention.

According to a government press release, Ilie Bolojan and interim Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare reviewed developments on the energy products market and their impact on fuel prices during consultations with the main fuel market operators in Romania. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Oana Tilica; EN - writing by: Cristina Zaharia)