Romania’s government transferred the assets of Hunedoara Energy Complex (CEH), namely thermal power plants and coal mines evaluated at RON 1 billion (EUR 200 million), to the restructuring company in an attempt to avoid the collapse of CEH and save some 2,000 workplaces.

The government thus wrote off CEH’s RON 1 billion debts owed to the budget and, in exchange, received the problematic assets that generated the debt, Profit.ro reported.

The government explains that CEH would have gone bankrupt otherwise, and the state should have paid the unemployment aid to the 2,000 employees while not recovering the RON 1 billion owed by the company to budget. Instead, the state now pays wages to the 2,000 employees and swapped the RON 1 billion claim with problematic assets that it has to sooner or later close down (and pay unemployment benefits to the 2,000). 

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Romolo Tavani/Dreamstime.com)