EC official urges reform of Romanian state companies

Newsroom 08/10/2012 | 06:32

Joost Kuhlmann, the head of the Finland, Bulgaria and Romania section in the European Commission highlighted the need for the reform of Romanian state companies. The statement was made at the 2012 Economic Forum organized by Confidustria Romania last week.

“State companies need to be reformed, the numerous vicious connections between government departments and companies need to be cut off, and these need to be run professionally, so as to make use of their assets for the benefit of those who own them, that is Romanian citizens,” Kuhlmann (pictured) said.

The EC official argued that Romania’s biggest challenge is the revitalization of its economy. “Political stability is needed and politicians need to focus on the game. And I don’t mean the political game. I mean the economic game. Only in this way there is hope for sustainable growth in Romanians living standards,” Kuhlmann said.

Also attending the event, Marco Esposito, executive VP of Unicredit Tiriac Bank, said that the number of companies with Italian capital in CEE is four times larger than in China. At the same time, Italy’s imports from CEE are 1.5 times higher than from Chine, while exports to CEE are 6.7 times higher than in China. Esposito explained that the main competitive advantages of CEE are the low labor costs, the flat tax rate and the low energy tariffs, compared to Western Europe.

Mauro Maria Angelini, the president of Confindustria Romania said the manufacturing industry posted in the first semester of 2012 a 3 percent yearly growth and declared himself optimistic about the prospects of the sector by 2015.