PM Citu: There is a plan to gradually close uncompetitive collieries by 2030
Prime Minister Florin Citu told a news conference in Alba Iulia on Thursday that there is a plan for the gradual closure of Romania's collieries by 2030 that will be unveiled transparently when the emergency ordinance amending and supplementing Emergency Ordinance (OUG) 69/2019.
"There is a plan to phase out the collieries by 2030 (...) It is an emergency ordinance that was first read in the government meeting last week; it will be approved next week with a plan for layoffs and compensation for the laid off. I have spoken with investors from several countries that are looking to build production facilities in Romania, and the first areas we show them are these, but the plan stretches out to 2030. It will be transparently unveiled when the emergency ordinance is approved," said Citu.
He referred to a draft emergency ordinance amending and supplementing OUG 69/2019 for the implementation of social protection measures for people made redundant through collective redundancies under redundancy plans of business operators for which state aid is approved to facilitate the closure of uncompetitive collieries in 2019-2024.
Under the bill, the estimated number of workers made redundant is 8,354, of which 4,063 from Complexul Energetic Hunedoara SA (CEH), 264 from Compania Nationala a Uraniului S.A. (CNU), 3,997 from Societatea Complexul Energetic Oltenia S.A., 30 from the Valea Jiului National Mine Closure Company S.A. (SNIM).