Bucharest, Apr 13 (IANS): Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has said that his country has decided to extend the capacity of nuclear energy by building small and modular nuclear power plants in a relatively short time.

"We, in Romania, have decided to invest also in renewable energy, but also in civilian nuclear energy," Iohannis told a joint press conference with visiting Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We will extend the capacity of the Cernavoda Power Plant, probably in a relatively short time frame. We will have small, modular nuclear plants which can be used to fulfill the needs of the energy grid," he added.

According to him, the country will also finance and develop green energy, "we will have renewables and certainly we will have a higher and higher production in hydrogen."

"It is important to have a powerful European energy market, to have energy available at prices established in an intelligent and transparent manner," he added.

The Belgian Prime Minister said that his country took the decision to extend the functioning of nuclear power plants, as the nuclear energy factor is not ignored at the European level, but part of its energy mix.

On Monday, European Union foreign ministers failed to reach an agreement on sanctions targeting Russia's oil and gas.

EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on Monday that these sanctions would cause an "asymmetric shock" between EU countries since central and eastern European member states are "heavily dependent" on Russian energy imports.