EU urged to help combat ”devastating” illegal logging in Romania

by Martin Banks

His comments come amid claims that a major Austrian timber company that supplies DIY stores across Europe sources illegally logged timber from Romania’s vast and largely intact forests.

Romania has lost 28,000 hectares of forests in the last ten years, much of it to illegal logging, and in May last year, thousands of people marched through ten Romanian cities calling for government action to protect the forests. At his meeting in Vienna with Kern, Dragnea the two men discussed a range of issues,including security and the Romanian community in Austria. But the issue of Austrian involvement in the Romanian forestry sector took prominence in the discussions.

Afterwards, the Romanian Socialist leader said, “Most importantly, I brought the concerns of the Romanian people about the need to preserve our forests and our environment to the Chancellor’s attention.”

He added, “This natural resource is our treasure and national heritage and for that reason, I explained to the Chancellor that the PSD will establish clear regulations and expectations for foreign logging companies, so that Austrian firms doing business in Romania can contribute to our economy in a fair and reasonable way without fear of harassment.”

He went on, “Clarifying this issue and communicating it effectively to our partners in Austria and elsewhere will be a top priority when the next PSD government is installed after 11 December.”

Dragnea succeeded the former Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta at the helm of the Social Democratic Party in 2015 and served as his deputy from 2012 to 2015. His intervention comes in the wake of a two-year investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency US (EIA), an NGO, which says it recorded officials from an Austrian firm, Holzindustrie Schweighofer, offering to buy illegal timber from investigators posing as buyers and filmed unmarked logs dumped at the company’s depots in apparent violation of Romanian law.

Alexander von Bismark, executive director of EIA US, said, “It’s devastating for Europe’s last virgin forest and the communities that depend on them, but also for legitimate foresters throughout Europe.” Holzindustrie Schweighofer customers include DIY stores and wood pellet companies across Europe, in Romania, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic and France.

Among the companies are Italian energy giant Enel’s Romanian subsidiary, which the EIA said spent €9.9m with Schweighofer in 2014, and Spar Austria, the supermarket, which reportedly spent €3.3m that year. Bricostore Romania, a chain of DIY stores owned by the UK-based Kingfisher, which owns B&Q and has trumpeted its environmental credentials, spent €2.5m with Schweighofer, according to the EIA.

Further comment came from Marina Barbălată, director of Greenpeace Romania and project leader at the Romanian Forest Rescue Station,  who said, "These are virgin or quasi-virgin forests where there has been either no human impact or minimal impact. They are most valuable forests in Europe in terms of their conservation value. We have to act now to protect them, or they will be lost forever."

Gesche Jürgens, a forestry expert at Greenpeace Germany Jürgens, commented, “It's important not because these forests are unique and irreplaceable. They also represent a test of the EU’s international  credibility . "We are asking countries to protect their primary forests," she says. "But if the EU is not willing to protect the few remaining jewels of its national heritage, how can we expect those other countries to do that?"