On June 2, 2026, Csaba Borboly, Vice-President of Harghita County Council and Member of the European Committee of the Regions, attended the European Parliament’s Hunting and Natural Heritage Intergroup meeting in Brussels. He presented a concrete proposal to use the ongoing stress test of the Habitats Directive as a vehicle for reducing the strict protection status of the brown bear in Romania.
The proposal:
The Committee of the Regions should initiate an own-initiative opinion on brown bear population management, submitted before the August 4 public consultation deadline of the stress test process.
Why now:
Romania’s Parliament adopted a bear management law — initiated by Deputy Prime Minister Tanczos Barna and UDMR — with near-unanimous votes in both chambers. The Constitutional Court will rule on June 24. Even if promulgated, the law remains vulnerable to legal challenges as long as the bear retains strict protected status under Annex IV of the Habitats Directive.
The wolf precedent:
In December 2024, the grey wolf was downlisted from Annex II to Annex III of the Bern Convention at the EU’s request, based on population recovery. Romania’s brown bear population stands between 10,419 and 12,770 — more than triple the ecological carrying capacity of approximately 4,000. The same scientific logic applies.