Miners stage protests in Bucharest
After protests at the company's headquarters and in Târgu Jiu, coal miners from the Oltenia Energy Group came to Bucharest to voice their discontent.
Daniela Budu, 25.03.2026, 13:50
Around 1,000 employees with the Oltenia Energy Group in southwestern Romania picketed the government head offices in Bucharest on Tuesday over job losses, the lack of social protection measures for laid off staff, and the prospective closing of mining operations in 2030, as undertaken by Romania under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The protests of the Oltenia Energy Group employees started more than two weeks ago in Târgu Jiu, with several dozen coal miners also traveling to Bucharest, where they went on hunger strike in front of the Energy Ministry. People are unhappy that nearly 2,000 employees with fixed-term employment contracts will remain without a job.
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan discussed on Tuesday with a delegation of miners’ trade unions about the company’s financial indicators and the employees’ concerns. They requested the renewal of individual fixed-term employment contracts or compensation packages for the personnel whose contracts will not be renewed.
The PM explained that their demands cannot be met, and the restructuring plan challenged by the employees must be implemented as undertaken by Romania. As Ilie Bolojan pointed out, these commitments and the financial state of the company, which reported about EUR 200 million in losses last year, led to the measures that must be taken now.
According to the PM, the measures being implemented are based on documents adopted as early as in 2020 and are part of the restructuring and decarbonisation programme approved at a national and European level.
In a statement issued on Monday, the ‘Muntele’ trade union, which brings together coal miners and energy sector workers in the Valea Jiului Energy Group, also in southwestern Romania, voiced its solidarity with the protests of fellow miners from the Oltenia Energy Group, emphasising that the government and the energy ministry need to find solutions to the problems reported by the unionists.
According to this trade union, the government needs to renegotiate the mine closure with Brussels, as the deadline for the closure and reclamation of two coal mines in Valea Jiului is December 31, 2026, which is not feasible.
Like most EU member countries, Romania has officially committed to phasing out coal from its energy mix by the end of 2030. The process has already begun, with the decommissioning of some energy groups. This commitment is part of the national decarbonisation strategy and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Coal-fired power plants will be replaced with renewable sources (solar, wind farms) and gas-fired power plants, with an emphasis on green technologies, to ensure energy security. (AMP)
