EnvinMin Alexe: Tomorrow, Romanian Parliament to vote on draft law banning exports of logs

A draft law banning exports of logs is to be submitted to Parliament for approval on Thursday, and I will support it, Minister of Environment Costel Alexe said in a videoconference with the European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fishery, Virginius Sinkevicius.

According to a press release of the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests, Costel Alexe discussed on Wednesday with European Commissioner Sinkevicius about the Romanian authorities' roadmap in closing the infringement procedure initiated by the European Commission regarding the illegal logging.

The European Commissioner wanted to know if there were any delays in the adoption of measures assumed by Romania in its response letter, in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic, said the same source, while the Romanian Minister assured him that all objectives are being followed according to the calendar.

"I am optimistic that we will manage to observe all terms. We are making important progress compared with our last meeting in mid-February, in Brussels. Precisely tomorrow, the Romanian Parliament will hold a vote on a draft law banning exports of logs and I will support this initiative, as a Minister, and I will vote for it, as an MP. Moreover, we've managed to advanced a lot in developing the computer system that will track the wood - SUMAL, with all the new functions that we discussed: monitoring by GPS in real-time, images via satellite. Last week we managed to unblock a part of the functions of the web portal Inspectorul Padurii [Wood Inspector], which were blocked, inexplicably, by the former Government. Even if we are working on a new version, with more functions - monitoring by satellite, GSP coordinates in real-time, uploading of pictures with the shipping when the approval is issued and many other things - we believe that, until the end of June, we will be able to implement the new portal and the old one should function at full capacity," said Costel Alexe.