Romanian coalmine Lupeni was severely affected by the floods at the end of June. Leader of the Jiu Valley miners’ union Darius Cimpean said that the Romanian Government, at its next session, will approve state aid for the coalmine.
Cimpean said that the Minister of Economy and Energy Virgil Popescu, informed him that the financial aid will be approved next week, and will soon reach the mine’s operator Energy Complex (EC) Hunedoara to solve the serious problems of this unit. The Government’s decision, is based on the evaluation made by the officials of EC Hunedoara Energy on the damages caused by the flooding of the mine.
Last week, Romanian Minister of Economy and Energy Virgil Popescu said that insolvent coal-based electricity producer EC Hunedoara will be split into two separate companies and the process will be completed in September. Each of the two new companies will operate thermal power plants. He noted that the appointed judicial administrator of EC Hunedoara already completed the assessment of the company’s assets and is currently working on the separation plan. According to him, the first company that will emerge from this pro-cess will consist of thermal power plant Paroseni and coalmines in Jiu Valley (Lupeni, Lonea, Vulcan and Livezeni), while the second company will operate thermal power plant Mintia. One of the two new companies will remain under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economy and Energy, while the other will be handed to local authorities.
