Journalistic investigation: a Romanian family & friends forest deal

A company once owned by the in-laws, mother, close friend, and former student of Romania’s Environment Ministry Secretary of State Alexandru Avram has won €2.2 million in EU funds to plant 207 hectares of forest – on land it leased from the Romanian state, reveals an investigation by EUalive’s parner PressOne.ro.

Romania’s shrinking forest ambition

In 2022, Romania pledged to the European Commission to create 56,000 hectares of new forest by 2026 using Recovery and Resilience Facility (PNRR) money. After three years and only 9,000 hectares planted, Brussels lost faith. The target was cut twice; today it stands at 18,000 hectares with a €307 million budget.

More than 30,000 hectares worth of applications now chase slots for just 18,000. Dozens of early applicants fear they will lose the thousands of euros already spent on soil tests and seedlings.

One firm’s rapid rise

Green Forest Agro Project SRL was born on 1 October 2024, founded by Ioan-Dorel and Rodica Dan—the parents of Roxana Avram, wife of Secretary of State Alexandru Avram, the official who has publicly championed the PNRR forest campaign since 2023.

Two months later, in December 2024, the firm leased 207 hectares of degraded farmland in Bara, Timiș County, from the state-owned Agency for State Domains (ADS). The auction had opened only one month earlier.

By January 2025 the Dans sold 100% of the company to Sustainable Asset Management SRL, a consultancy created days earlier by Marioara Avram—Alexandru’s mother and an accounting professor in Drobeta Turnu Severin.

On 15 May 2025 Marioara Avram transferred everything to 29-year-old Georgiana Maria Lungu, her former PhD student. Lungu had defended her finance doctorate under Marioara two months earlier and, in March 2025, co-published a sustainability paper with Alexandru Avram and his brother.

Administrator: Otniel Didraga, pro-dean at the West University of Timișoara, where Alexandru Avram lectures. The two men have posted friendly photos together for 13 years.

The Money

On 13 June 2025 the Environment Ministry published an interim list of PNRR winners. Green Forest Agro Project ranked high enough to claim €2.2 million (10.785 million lei) to plant the Bara plot.

Beyond the grant, the firm will collect an annual carbon-sequestration premium—€640/ha for 20 years—worth another €2.6 million from the state budget.

Timeline raises eyebrows

March 2025: Project presentation memo drafted while Marioara Avram still owned the firm.
5 March 2025: Firm requests environmental permit from Timiș County—two months before Marioara’s exit.
December 2024 lease contract (provided by Alexandru Avram) explicitly states the land’s destination: “afforestation with European funds.”

Denials and contradictions

All parties insist no conflict exists because the family had formally exited by selection day. Alexandru Avram told PressOne he promoted the programme everywhere yet convinced “many friends” to apply. He first claimed he never collaborated with Lungu, then admitted “professional relations” but no direct contact. Co-authors confirmed he gave feedback on the joint paper.

Didraga says he administers the firm only after Lungu’s takeover and never discussed it with Avram. Metadata contradict him: he signed documents in March.

After publication, Avram requested an internal Ministry probe “to remove any doubt” and reiterated the family’s clean exit.

First-come, first-served

The PNRR forest scheme runs on speed: no scoring, just upload order. With budgets slashed, every hectare is a prize. Green Forest Agro Project—founded, flipped, and staffed by the Avram circle—grabbed one of the last big slices.

A longer version of this article in Romanian can be found here.

Caption: Illegal logging in Romania.Re-forestation is supported by EU funds. Mikadun/Shutterstock