Ailing Romanian Coal Region Sees New Hope in EU Green Deal

Danciu, 31, only wishes it had happened sooner.

"Just Transition is a process that should have started 23 years ago," he told BIRN.

"Only now do we think of it as something serious, something that needs to be done, when the valley is half empty. It's a pity we lost so much time."

'Great potential'

Mihai Danciu. Photo: Private archive

A remote cluster of six mining towns and surrounding villages, the Jiu Valley holds a special place in the history of coal mining in Central and Eastern Europe.

Coal mining in the valley dates back 150 years, but the industry boomed under the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu, when over 100,000 Romanians flocked to its mines from poorer parts of the country under a second wave of industrialisation.

Working conditions were precarious, accidents common and environmental damage extensive.

In 1997, less than a decade after Ceausescu's execution and the fall of communism, a World Bank-imposed restructuring programme saw the mines start to close, with the loss of 90 per cent of jobs and 40 per cent of the population. Only four mines remain active today, employing barely 4,000 people. They too are slated to shut.

Alexandru Mustata, however, says it is not all gloom and doom.

A campaign coordinator at Bankwatch Romania, which works to prevent the negative environmental and social impact of public and private projects and is involved in energy transition in Central and Eastern Europe, said the civil society sector in the Jiu Valley gave cause for optimism.

"There is great potential and an active civil society in Jiu Valley and this is starting to show results," said Mustata, 29.

With the launch this year of the Just Transition Mechanism,...