Police solves 5,000 forestry criminal files in attempt to meet EU standards

In the first half of the year police solved over 5,000 criminal cases referring to illegal clearance of forests and thefts of trees, according to a press release from the General Police Inspectorate. The release said 2,340 files referred to illegal trees clearing, while 2,800 to thefts of trees.

Romania is the victim of annual illegal forest clearances of about 100,000 cubic meters from public property. Between 1991 and 2004, over 30,000 hectares of land from private properties, said the police release.

The thefts have caused serious problems over the years, as they were the cause of many of the floods that led to havoc in Romania in recent years.

Romanian authorities have tried to reduce the high number of hectares of land illegally cleared, especially after receiving several clear signals from European Officials that asked for solutions to be found.

The release gave the example of Vrancea County, where over 370 fines adding up to over 200,000 new lei (about 56,000 euros) were given by police over the last six months.

In addition, police discovered another 300 or more offences, including a case accusing 11 people of having illegally cut over 5,600 cubic meters of threes, causing a loss of over 900,000 new lei (about 250,000 euros).

The police inspectorate organized work meetings starting in June with all state representatives who assure the integrity of the forestry fund. Thus, the meetings gathered officials from the Agriculture Ministry, Forestry Inspectorates, the Financial Guard, the Environment Guard as well as others.

During the meeting sessions which took place in Caras Severin, Sibiu, Covasna, and Buzau counties, participants tackled the problems and irregularities while establishing ways to solve these issues on an organizational, conceptual and legislative level.