A former journalist is going to court in an attempt to block the creation of the two Romanian national energy companies, "Electra" and "Hidroenergetica", claiming he is nothing more than a simple citizen who is against the government"s plan to keep alive companies that owe the state hundreds of millions of lei, instead of privatizing them.
The Government"s plans to create the two energy companies provide the merger of several companies, of which some, such as the National Coal Company, burden the state budget with huge arrears.
The lawsuit filed by the former journalist is not an isolated case: similar lawsuits were filed by the management and even by some shareholders of the Proprietatea Fund to prevent the stakes of the Fund in the two companies from being diluted after their creation.
The action filed by the former journalist is different from the other lawsuits filed with the Trade Registry or with the courts because it has been filed a person that claims to represent no special interests apart from the public good.
The former journalist, Cosmin Barbu, explained: "I have opposed the creation of these companies as a common citizen. I have no connection to any of the companies that would be included in Electra or Hidroenergetica, nor with the Proprietatea Fund, but I consider that it is not acceptable, to have the arrears of these companies be cancelled just because they are supposed to become part of these new companies". He added that companies that are in trouble should be privatized or shut down: "The goal of creating the two energy champions, is to keep alive some companies which are completely unprofitable and which do no nothing but drain the economy dry. I don"t think it"s fair to have the state bear their debts instead of privatizing them".
As an example, the National Coal Company, which is supposed to become part of the new
