Law on Hydroelectric Power Plants in Protected Areas
A law has been enacted that allows for continuing to build hydroelectric power plants that began before they were included in the protected areas system.
Daniela Budu, 10.09.2026, 14:00
Romania’s President Nicușor Dan has signed into law a bill that allows, under exceptional circumstances, the modification of the boundaries of certain protected natural areas to enable the continuation of specific hydropower development projects that began before June 29, 2007. The law supplements the Emergency Ordinance on the regime governing protected natural areas and amends the Law on the environmental impact assessment of public and private projects. The exception applies exclusively to areas for which, as of June 29, 2007, hydropower investments, either under construction or started prior to that date, had been approved by government decisions or state decrees.
According to the law, the central authority responsible for the protection of the environment, water, and forests must amend the boundaries of protected natural areas within 60 days of the beneficiary’s request. Furthermore, the new boundaries must be drawn so that the hydropower development, access roads, and related transport and distribution stations and networks remain outside the protected area. These provisions do not apply to projects whose sole purpose is defense, national security, or emergency response, nor to those designated by the Supreme Council for National Defense as related to such objectives. In November 2025, the head of state challenged this law before the Constitutional Court. His petition alleging unconstitutionality emphasized at the time that the law violates the fundamental right to a healthy environment, contravenes European directives on habitat protection, and eliminates the environmental assessments and compensatory measures required by the European Union. “Our country’s energy independence is a particularly important goal, but it must be achieved in a sustainable manner, and Romania has a constitutional and European obligation to protect its natural heritage and guarantee every citizen the right to a healthy environment,” Nicușor Dan stated at the time. However, the Constitutional Court rejected the president’s petition. And the request to reconsider the law was also rejected by Parliament.
Environmental organizations also protested at the time, claiming that dozens of national and natural parks would be “mutilated” to complete projects with a national energy contribution of less than one percent, virtually negligible. For their part, the state-owned company Hidroelectrica, Romania’s largest electricity producer, and its majority shareholder, the Energy Ministry, have long complained that numerous historic hydroelectric power plant projects, many of which are in very advanced stages of construction, cannot be completed due to environmental legislation, including lawsuits filed by relevant NGOs. Following the law’s enactment, the initiator of the law, PSD Senator Daniel Zamfir, stated that it would allow for the continuation of construction on hydroelectric power plants that began before the respective areas were designated as protected areas, noting that their completion is crucial for Romania’s energy independence. (LS)
