The European Commission has approved the
\nequivalent in lei of 100 million euros in state aid Romania will be shelling
\nout in order to be able to close down two more unprofitable coal mines, Lonea
\nand Lupeni, in the Jiu Valley, in the south-west. According to a communiqu\u00e9
\nissued by the European Commission Representation in Bucharest, the EU Executive
\ndecided the move is in line with European rules, as member countries can
\nprovide state assistance in situations like this in order to diminish the
\nenvironmental and social impact. More than half the sum will go to the workers
\nin the form of compensation and job retraining programmes and for the works
\nrelated to closing down the mines, land rehabilitation and recultivation. Some
\nof the money will be used to cover production losses until the complete closure
\nof the two facilities, the communiqu\u00e9 also says. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The mines of Lonea and Lupeni are units of the
\nHunedoara Power Compound and their closure must be completed by the end of 2018
\nat the latest. The measure comes after the compound has been legally declared
\nas coming out of insolvency earlier this month, a situation in which the plant
\nalso found itself in the first half of the year. The Hunedoara Power Compound
\nemploys thousands of people at its two thermal power stations and four
\ncoal mines.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The process of closing down two of these mines
\nis but one episode in the long agony of Romania’s mining industry. A privileged
\nsector during the communist dictatorship for both pragmatic and ideological
\nreasons, the mining industry used to ensure the vitality of a high energy
\nconsuming industry. Miners would be far better paid in comparison with other
\nemployees, but their tough and alienating work turned them into an
\nunpredictable mass. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Back in 1977, the Jiu Valley saw one of the few
\nanti-communist revolts in Romania. 13 years later however, shortly after the
\nanti-communist revolution, trains full of miners from Jiu Valley left for
\nBucharest to support leftist president Ion Iliescu who was claiming that a coup
\nwas being perpetrated by the right-wing. For two days, on June 14th
\nand the 15th 1990, the miners took control of Bucharest, disregarding any
\nform of legal authority. During their raid, six people were killed, 700 wounded
\nand over 1,000 abusively detained. The miners stormed and looted the university
\nbuilding and the headquarters of independent parties and newspapers. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Almost three decades on from the miners’ raids
\non Bucharest, Romania’s mining industry is still the same unprofitable and
\nheavily polluting sector. Its activity has been shrinking since the mid-1990s,
\nwhen Romania’s Christian-Democratic government moved to close down the first
\nmines. Some of the miners who were made redundant started to open small
\nbusinesses, others returned to their native regions, while others went to work
\nabroad. Experts believe we are going to see the same scenario after the closing
\ndown of the two coal mines in Lonea and Lupeni. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romania cleared by Brussels to provide state aid for closure of two uncompetitive coal mining units.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":42906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[38728],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-71070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-coal-mines-closure"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n