Romania may be retained EUR 1 billion out of the EUR 2.3 bln third disbursement under the Resilience Facility for failure to meet a number of targets, according to a letter of the European Commission sent to the Romanian Government in June and now surfaced in the media.

Some EUR 300 mln - 500 mln were retained in relation to Romania’s failure to appoint top managers for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) based on transparent and competitive selection procedures, according to Hotnews.ro. 

The dismissal of the managers already appointed would cost millions – less than not dismissing them, but the political support enjoyed by those placed in the top management seats is strong enough to prevent such a move, according to sources familiar with the matter quoted by Hotnews.ro.

The companies mentioned by the European Commission, where managers were appointed on non-competitive procedures, are mainly in the energy sector: Hidroelectrica, Nuclearelectrica, Romgaz, Conpet, Oil Terminal, SAPE (a company that manages state’s minority stakes in energy companies), and RATEN (a company that supervises the nuclear energy sector).

The EC explained in detail that it understood the ingredients of the non-competitive procedures organized by the Romanian authorities. All of the procedures start with announcements printed in obscure publications and continue with breaching the regulations set for such procedures: various conflicts of interest and even the absence of a selection committee in some cases. 

But the European Commission also requested clarifications regarding the appointments to the Boards of Directors of the National Road Infrastructure Administration Company (CNAIR), the National Road Investment Company (CNIR), railway infrastructure company CFR, Bucharest subway company Metrorex, and passenger railway company CFR Călători.

According to the letter, Romania did not provide the Commission with a proper justification of the satisfactory fulfillment of the milestone regarding the appointments in the five companies.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Marian Vejcik/Dreamstime.com)