Environmental advocacy organization Greenpeace is suing the authorities and energy companies OMV Petrom and Romgaz for serious transgressions in the approval process of the Zone Development Urban Plan related to the Neptun Deep offshore gas exploitation project, the representatives of NGO announced on Wednesday.Greenpeace accuses the Constanta Environmental Protection Agency (APM) of having issued the environmental permit in violation of the legal provisions."The approval for the infrastructure of the Black Sea offshore project was issued in absence of key studies for the correct assessment of the risks involved. APM Constanta granted the environmental permit without an adequate assessment study of the impact on the environment, without studies on the impact on the population's health, on water bodies, climate change, and without an assessment of the cross-border impact, as required by national, union and international regulations," Greenpeace informs.According to the NGO, the Neptun Deep project is riddled with notable risks, from threats to vulnerable species in the Black Sea, to the intensification of climate change effects. Without a correct assessment of the consequences of such a project, biodiversity and ecosystems will be irreversibly affected, and extreme weather phenomena will intensify, they warn."The authorities must be held accountable for the irresponsible way in which they give their OK for projects with a destructive impact on people and the environment. These are the same authorities that should protect the environment and the interests of citizens, yet instead they issue sloppily devised approvals that play into corporate interests, without evaluating the impact on the health of the population and nature. We will pursue all avenues to make sure that harmful projects like Neptun Deep will not affect people's health and destroy precious marine ecosystems," said Alin Tanase, Greenpeace Romania campaign coordinator.The lawyers representing Greenpeace argue that a cross-border procedure should have been followed from the early stage of planning, and given that "the required triple-pronged approach (project size and area covered by the plan blueprint, the effect on the Black Sea, underground waters and climate change) was completely left out", their point is that the environmental permit is illegal.
Romania took the presidency of the Central European Initiative (or CEI) on Wednesday, November 26, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). The organization is a regional intergovernmental forum established in 1989, following the fall of the Berlin Wall. It gathers 17 Member States in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe […]
Trade between Romania and Poland continues to grow, with annual bilateral exchanges in goods now valued at more than EUR 12 billion, according to figures presented by the Polish-Romanian Bilateral Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PRBCC). The data was released during a reception in Bucharest marking Poland’s Independence Day and Romania’s National Day. Polish investments […]
As Romania moves closer to implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive, local employers are preparing for one of the most consequential shifts in workplace regulation in over a decade. The directive, set for transposition by June 2026, introduces strict new rules on salary disclosure, pay reporting, and equal-pay verification, aiming to close persistent gender gaps […]
A young Romanian has developed a new system that allows people to return entire bags of recyclable packaging at once, replacing the traditional method of inserting bottles one by one into reverse-vending machines. The concept, called IZI, was created by Ștefan Parascanu, who returned to Romania after studying and working in the United Kingdom. The […]
JTI, the global owner of both Winston and Camel, announced on Thursday, November 27, a plan to build a new, state-of-the-art factory in Ștefăneștii de Jos, Ilfov County. Designed to replace the current Bucharest production site, which is operating under space constraints, the facility is scheduled for completion in 2027. Ground works at the new […]
The City Hall of Oradea, in northwest Romania, has begun installing new smart parking meters as part of its ongoing modernization and digitalization of the municipal parking system. The first batch of devices has already been placed in central areas, and the entire system is expected to become operational by the end of the year. […]
