CIVICUS speaks to Cristinel Buzatu, regional legal advisor for Central and Eastern Europe at Greenpeace, about how Romania’s state gas company is weaponising the courts to silence environmental opposition.
On 10 June, the state-owned energy giant Romgaz filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve Greenpeace Romania. The legal attack came after the organisation campaigned against the company’s plans to exploit a Black Sea gas field. Politicians say the project is crucial for Romania’s energy independence and its ability to export gas to Moldova, while civil society is clear that fossil fuel extraction must stop to prevent runaway climate change. Romgaz withdrew the case just hours before the first hearing, but the lawsuit exposed how fossil fuel companies are exploiting legal loopholes to silence dissent, marking a dangerous escalation in corporate attacks on climate activists.
