The SILVA Federation of Forestry Unions announced Wednesday in a press release that it had officially filed a complaint with the Supreme Council for National Defense, requesting the suspension of the reorganization of the National Forest Administration—Romsilva—and an urgent review of Government Decision No. 123/2026.
The Ministry of Environment, Water, and Forests is the target of the foresters’ complaint, as it mandated, through Government Decision No. 123/2026, the reorganization of Romsilva into 19 regional forestry directorates. The union federation accuses the ministry of persistently promoting this project, alongside a relentless smear campaign against Romsilva and Romanian foresters, without presenting a professional analysis.
“But the MMAP leadership has not presented any professional analysis to support this reorganization plan. It is unclear who is technically responsible for the project. No economic, social, or functional impact assessment has been presented to demonstrate that the chosen structure is the correct one.
Furthermore, the decision was made hastily, before the completion of the independent organizational audit of Romsilva—an audit about which MMAP leadership had been informed in advance. The audit is now available, and its conclusions blatantly contradict the solution imposed by the ministry,” the press release states. The SILVA Federation also notes that, as part of the audit process, seven scenarios were analyzed based on 14 economic, territorial, governance, and environmental criteria.
The solution identified as optimal is the organization of Romsilva into 26 regional offices. “The government established 19 regional offices without providing any justification for this number. The audit indicates 26.
This is a reality that the MMAP leadership cannot ignore and for which it is responsible—and which it would have been normal to explain. Under these circumstances, the insistence with which the reorganization of the agency continues to be pushed forward—even though there are now professional arguments for halting and reevaluating it—raises a number of questions,” the union representatives state. The unions are raising a series of questions regarding the haste with which the reorganization of Romsilva is being pursued.
The authority’s conduct, the absence of a professionally grounded rationale presented to the public, and the refusal to halt the process in order to reassess it in light of the independent audit make all these questions legitimate from the foresters’ perspective. “Why must Romsilva be reorganized at any cost and in such a short time? Why is the professional analysis showing that the chosen solution is wrong being ignored?
Is this merely administrative amateurism? Incompetence? Or are there other objectives behind this ‘reorganization’—objectives that have not been presented to the public?
Is a fundamental change to the system for managing publicly owned forests being prepared by weakening the current administrator? Is the aim to transfer certain administrative responsibilities to other entities? To whom?
How? ” Unlike the MMAP leadership, foresters know the forest as well as the structures that manage it, the SILVA Federation’s press release further states. “They know the structures that manage it.
They know what it means on the ground to sever functional ties built over decades and to create oversized regional structures. The SILVA Federation has repeatedly warned of the risks of this reorganization before they were confirmed by the audit. Law No.
51/1991 on national security includes among the threats to national security any actions or inactions that may lead to the endangerment, degradation, or destruction of natural resources and the forest fund. ” These are the reasons why the SILVA Federation states that it has notified the CSAT, and in conclusion points out that decision-makers will be held accountable even after they leave office. “We, the foresters, have done our duty.
We identified the errors. We issued warnings. We presented our arguments.
We demanded that the process be halted before its effects became difficult or impossible to correct. From this point forward, none of those deciding to proceed with the reorganization can claim they were unaware. If, despite all the warnings and the audit’s findings, the reorganization is carried out in its current form, responsibility for the consequences must lie with those who made and upheld this decision.
Positions are temporary. But responsibility for the decisions made while holding them does not disappear upon leaving office. Those who decide today to move forward must understand that they cannot jeopardize the management of state-owned forests and then consider the matter closed once their term ends.
State-owned forests are a strategic resource for Romania. “Whoever undertakes to continue this reorganization also assumes, to the very end, responsibility for its consequences,” the SILVA Federation’s press release concludes.