A group of MPs blames environmental organisations for rising energy prices

Press release by Agent Green, Bankwatch, Eco Civica

Bucharest, 29 November 2021 – On the afternoon of Friday 26 November, Agent Green, the Bankwatch Romania Association and the Eco-Civica Foundation were ordered, under threat of possible criminal prosecution for “obstructing the establishment of the truth”, to appear on 2 December before the parliamentary committee investigating the causes of the substantial rise in natural-gas and electricity prices. The NGOs describe Parliament’s attitude as a serious departure from democratic principles and alert the Court of Justice of the European Union.

“Parliament’s action is profoundly anti-European and illustrates the incompetence and desperation of those who ignored environmental legislation. Instead of being investigated themselves by the DNA, they have resorted to this extraordinary instrument available to Parliament: the inquiry committee. I believe this Putin-style action will backfire on them. As a first step, I will directly notify the Court of Justice of the European Union about this vile action,” said Gabriel Păun, president of Agent Green.

The organisations are known for their efforts to protect nature, including through the courts, from projects with a major negative environmental impact. These often reach the construction stage with extensive assistance from the state authorities, the very bodies that should ensure full compliance with national and European laws and guarantee all citizens their constitutional right to a clean environment.

The most prominent such projects, whose non-completion the MPs on the inquiry committee imply is the reason for rising electricity and gas prices, concern the expansion of several lignite mines in Gorj and construction of hydropower plants in Defileul Jiului National Park, all without an environmental-impact assessment and in serious breach of authorisation requirements, with final Romanian court decisions against them. These are joined by illegal clearing in 14 protected areas in the country’s southwest for a Transelectrica high-voltage-line project, as well as the NGOs’ opposition to nuclear energy and to the Romanian Government’s intention to divert PNRR funds towards fossil gas at the expense of renewable energy.

Although the document sent to the NGOs does not mention specific projects, it is ironic that one member of the inquiry committee is a former president of the National Environmental Protection Agency and later energy minister, Toma-Florin Petcu. During his terms, some of these projects received the green light, only to be stopped subsequently by the courts.

“The Jiu hydropower project was stopped at the last moment by the final decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal in case 10058/2017, which annulled the building permits issued by Hunedoara County Council and Gorj County Council. The final court decision was challenged by the project’s promoters through two extraordinary remedies, and subsequently attempts were made to slice up the project so that essential components could be authorised. Every time, the courts ruled in favour of the NGOs. In 2016, the former ANPM president refused to acknowledge the project’s illegality and rejected the NGOs’ requests. Today he is investigating the civil society that dared to stop an illegal project. Only the communist regime dared to change the law to suit its own interests, something that is happening again in Romania, step by step,” said Ioana Ciută, president of Bankwatch Romania.

The Jiu River, saved at the Court of Appeal in December 2020 by BankWatch and Agent Green

“Hidroelectrica, defying national legislation, European law, international conventions signed by Romania (the Ramsar Convention, the Carpathian Convention, the Bern Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity, etc.), as well as the ways environmental factors have changed, is trying to implement projects developed before 1989. They were also designed for the flow rates of the ‘70s, much greater than today’s after decades of deforestation, and with zero residual flow, which is now completely illegal. Even Apele Române acknowledges the severe decline in river flows in the Jiu basin in recent years,” said Dan Trifu, vice-president of Eco-Civica.

The NGOs concerned believe the parliamentary committee’s main aim is to distract attention from the real causes of energy-price rises, which are affecting all of Europe, and to make environmental NGOs the scapegoat.

“We stress that we are not the NGOs connected to public money, like those the environmental mafias have already managed to bring to heel. We represent real civil society and cannot be intimidated. Politicians must listen to us, not the other way around,” Gabriel Păun believes.

“The fact that Romanian MPs campaign vehemently for breaches of Community legislation and non-compliance with judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union sets an extremely dangerous precedent and suggests the emergence in Romania of an illiberal, anti-European cross-party current of the Polish/Hungarian type,” concludes Ioana Ciută.

Press contacts:

Cătălina RĂDULESCU, lawyer for Agent Green and Bankwatch, 0745138165, catalina.radulescu@gmail.com

Ioana CIUTĂ, president of Bankwatch Romania, ioana.ciuta@bankwatch.org; 0724202821

Dan TRIFU, vice-president of Eco-Civica, fundatia.ecocivica@gmail.com; 0722227780

Notes for journalists:

Positions and proposals for a sustainable energy transition from the signatory organisations:

• https://bankwatch.ro/surse-regenerabile-pentru-scaderea-preturilor-la-energie-apelul-societatii-civile-catre-liderii-tarilor-din-europa-centrala-si-de-est/
• https://tranzitie-energetica.bankwatch.ro/news/digitalizarea-sistemului-energetic/
• https://tranzitie-energetica.bankwatch.ro/news/analiza-pnrr/
• https://bankwatch.ro/politici-sisteme-de-incalzire-regenerabile/
• https://bankwatch.ro/potentialul-regenerabil-al-romaniei-risca-sa-ramana-neexploatat/