30th april
2007
EIB grants Romania more than 4.9 billion euros
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted in the 14 years of activity in
Romania more than 4.9 billion euros for the funding of some long-term projects
supported by the European Union, stated on April 17 EIB Director in Romania Goetz
von Thadden, on the occasion of the French-Romanian seminar on the “Public-private
partnership and transport infrastructure”, organized by the Embassy of France
to Bucharest.
He stressed that in Romania as well public private projects of infrastructure
in public-private partnership (PPP) can be implemented, but only if some conditions
are met. “The main characteristic for a PPP is represented by the division
of risks between these two sectors and the creation of a long-term relation between
sides”, said EIB Director.
For such a project to be successfully implemented, in the opinion of EIB representative,
a political engagement is needed as for the public sector, a clear legal and institutional
frame, a realistic distribution of risks and transparent and competitive supply.
“Benefits resulting from the implementation of a PPP project are, first
of all, costs improvement, ample innovations as regards the project’s structure
and funding”, said Goetz von Thadden. He underlined that, in the case the
bank is asked for a credit destined to the implementation of an PPP, first of
all, the project’s viability is checked up, both for the government and
for the private sector, as well as the category of investment risk for the projects
in the field of public services.
EIB has approved PPP implementations of some 20 billion euros since 2000 until
present.
PPP are frequently used in the United States of America and in The Netherlands,
in Europe. The most frequent credits granted by EIB for the funding of PPP projects
are those spanned on 20-25 years and those that are focused on road structure,
in the case of transport infrastructure projects.
Source: Rompres
Decathlon to open hypermarket in Romania
French group Decathlon will open next year the first hypermarket of sports equipment
in Romania, retailers on the market announced.
Francesco Russo, country manager with the sports equipment retailer, said that
the project to bring to Romania the Decathlon distribution department is currently
under way. He also added that the group is to open several stores in Bucharest
and in other large cities across Romania and he explained it is too early to cite
a certain date for the opening of the first store.
Decathlon group entered the Romanian market three years ago, through its production
department. The group currently has a production office in Bucharest, from where
a team of young Romanians passionate with sports manages the activity of the entire
chain of group’s suppliers. According to Francesco Russo, Decathlon has
already suppliers in several Romanian areas and in Bucharest.
The production office is due to find the best suppliers in the country, to promote
the products these suppliers provide, to control the quality of the products and
to export them to the group’s stores worldwide.
Source: Rompres
Fight for Credibility
One can hardly imagine a political scene more restive than the Romanian one is
nowadays. Let’s make a brief re-cap and say that the D.A. Alliance disbanded,
with one of the two member parties, the Democratic Party (PD), outside the government
arch, and the Tariceanu 2 Government was voted by a trans-party majority negotiated
in Parliament. This is the same parliament that votes to suspend the President
on grounds that he violated the Constitution, and the referendum over the dismissal
of the head of state will be held on May 19. Emotions run high, it becomes difficult
to delineate the long-term allies. ‘Friendships’ and alliances are
only transitory.
Amid this background, disputes are the order of the day. They set the former allies,
party leaders from both camps against one another, party leaders against the suspended
president, the resigned ministers against the newly appointed ones.
Well, those between the ministers in the Tariceanu 1 and Tariceanu 2 cabinets
are mind-boggling. The latest such squabbles, which took place during some talk-shows
on the ‘Realitatea TV’ channel, pitied the agriculture ministers (former
and present) and those of transports, respectively. For the viewers less familiar
with the fields concerned, the often-violent verbal quarrels did not bring any
enlightenment on the issues at stake. The discussion between the present and the
former Minister of Agriculture Decebal Traian Remes and Gheorghe Flutur, respectively
(the latter, a member of the newly created Liberal-Democrat Party and a supporter
of impeached President Traian Basescu) was bewildering.
While both of them were vehement, the new minister was even more intense than
the other guest on the show. As Flutur said that by the time he left the ministry
in November 2006, the EU had lifted all the red flags imposed by Brussels and
the European experts who came to Romania openly praised the internal efforts made,
Remes’s accusations came one after another.
Minister Remes’ first and foremost accusations against the former official
regarded fake reports, a notion also picked up by Premier Calin Popescu Tariceanu
in his public statements. Remes vehemently criticised how things went but also
the reports by the offices of the payment and intervention agencies in agriculture
(APIA), which should become operational at the soonest, in order to make subsidy
payments. The new minister says that many of those offices, about half of them,
run their operation from inadequate premises, some of them no larger than between
50 and 70 square meters and lacking the necessary logistics (computers, offices,
archives etc.). Furthermore, the employees have to buy with their own money the
necessary paper and other desk issues. The Minister reasons that the surface area
required by restrooms and other annexes aside, the space area is absolutely insufficient
to receive on a daily basis dozens or even hundreds of applicants who submit the
documents required and to organise archives. Former Minister Flutur refutes the
accusations and he brings the opinions of European officials as arguments to make
his case.
The discussion between the present and the former Minister of Transports, Ludovic
Orban and Radu Berceanu respectively, went pretty much along the same line, even
if mutual criticism was not as harsh. The economic policies over motorways are
debatable, as is the minister’s new idea of expressways rather than motorways
being built, with the time factor being the chief advantage, given the costs per
kilometre are more or less the same. Hence, a heated debate with pertinent arguments
on both sides.
How many problems could be resolved this way, we don’t know. The situation
on the ground aside, hard to grasp given the incomplete figures and the passionate
rather than logical arguments employed, the problems are here to stay and what
we ascertain is a fight over credibility before the citizenry. But real credibility
is hard to reach as long as all the ‘warriors’ are driven mostly by
political reasons: for or against Traian Basescu.
Regardless of how successful or not some of the ministers have been, Romania has
a shortage of motorways, you can hardly tell the difference between expressways
and national roads and the APIA offices are indeed a test for the administration’s
ability to face the challenges raised by this country’s accession to the
European Union.
All that aside, we hope the statements by PM Tariceanu, Economy and Finance Minister
Varujan Vosganian and many of the market analysts to be the most realistically
possible, referring to the Romanian economy reaching a certain maturity, which
prevents it from being affected by political tensions but to a small extent. Proofs
to it stand the latest developments at the stock exchange or the RON exchange
rate, which have not suffered much from this political debacle.
Finally, it is gladdening to see the low impact politics in this country has on
the economy, a fact proved by the voiced interest the two US giant car manufacturers
(General Motors and Ford) have in Automobile Craiova, an interest confirmed by
their bids to acquire the plant.
This shows investors’ appetite remains strong, as is their confidence in
the Romanian market, a fact also showed by the steady level of fairly high flows
of foreign direct and portfolio investments. With the auto markets in the Czech
Republic and Slovakia “seized” by Volkswagen and Hyundai, and Kia
respectively, Romania remains an attractive target for such highly competitive
industry, and therefore this country being in the cards as an economic environment
favourable to business development in this sector is a good thing.
Source: Nine O'Clock
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