Ford suspends Romanian production due to holidays, not power shortages

The car manufacturer Ford is temporarily halting production in Romania due to a planned summer break, it announced on Tuesday.

A company spokesman said that the pause had not been ordered in response to power shortages. 

Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan had previously stated after a crisis meeting with major industrial power consumers that carmakers, including Ford, were suspending production in Romania because of the country's energy crisis. Other companies would follow suit, he added.

But a spokesman at Ford's European headquarters in Cologne described the situation as a "misunderstanding."

"The fact is, no production is currently taking place due to the regular summer holidays, which were planned well in advance," he said. Regular factory holidays also take place at Ford's plants in Germany.

Romania is facing an acute electricity crisis due to the drought and heatwave.

The low water level of the Danube river has resulted in one of the two reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear power station being shut down because there was insufficient cooling water. The second reactor is also at risk of being shut down.

The country's hydroelectric power stations are also generating too little electricity due to fallen water levels in all rivers. The government has therefore called on industry, local authorities and the public to save electricity.