Former journalist sues to block the creation of the Romanian energy giants

A former journalist is going to court in an attempt to block the creation of the two Romanian national energy companies, "Electra" and "Hidroenergetica", claiming he is nothing more than a simple citizen who is against the government"s plan to keep alive companies that owe the state hundreds of millions of lei, instead of privatizing them.

The Government"s plans to create the two energy companies provide the merger of several companies, of which some, such as the National Coal Company, burden the state budget with huge arrears.

The lawsuit filed by the former journalist is not an isolated case: similar lawsuits were filed by the management and even by some shareholders of the Proprietatea Fund to prevent the stakes of the Fund in the two companies from being diluted after their creation.

The action filed by the former journalist is different from the other lawsuits filed with the Trade Registry or with the courts because it has been filed a person that claims to represent no special interests apart from the public good.

The former journalist, Cosmin Barbu, explained: "I have opposed the creation of these companies as a common citizen. I have no connection to any of the companies that would be included in Electra or Hidroenergetica, nor with the Proprietatea Fund, but I consider that it is not acceptable, to have the arrears of these companies be cancelled just because they are supposed to become part of these new companies". He added that companies that are in trouble should be privatized or shut down: "The goal of creating the two energy champions, is to keep alive some companies which are completely unprofitable and which do no nothing but drain the economy dry. I don"t think it"s fair to have the state bear their debts instead of privatizing them".

As an example, the National Coal Company, which is supposed to become part of the new energy giants, is the largest debtor of the state, with arrears which exceed 1.6 billion lei, according to the National Tax Administration Agency (ANAF).

The former journalist claims that he is familiar with the energy sector due to the fact that his company publishes a paper in the coal mining region of Valea Jiului, but says that he has no direct interests in the energy sector: "My company, Promart Consulting SRL, the company which I used to file a lawsuit opposing the creation of the two energy companies, publishes a newspaper in the Valea Jiului region. This experience helped me become familiar with the energy sector".

The opposition of the journalist, which is on trial with the Court of Gorj, as well as other similar actions, have changed the decision of the shareholders of "Nuclearelectrica", who recently decided to postpone the decision on the approval of the merger process for the creation of "Electra", until a late date. The shareholders say this decision was motivated by the lawsuit filed by "Promart Consulting"SRL, the company owned by the former journalist, as well as other legal actions of the same nature.

"Electra" will include the Energy complexes of Oltenia, the Oltenia National Lignite Company, three branches of Hidroelectrica and "Hidroserv" Râmnicu Vâlcea.

The other new company, Hidroenergetica, will include the remaining branches of Hidroelectrica, Electrocentrale Bucureşti, CET Deva, CET Paroşeni and the National Coal Company.