Bucharest officials need to find elegant solutions to attract Ford

Miercuri, 27 februarie 2008, 18:30 English | Business

Automobile Producer's Association Director, Constantin Stroe declared for HotNews.ro that Romanian officials should find an elegant solution to attract Ford in Craiova and hurry up the factory's privatization process. Morever he added that the 27 million euro the European Commission compelled Romania to recover are is not a big deal and solutions can be found.

Stroe argued that Romania need not loose time in contesting the European Commission decision and should find a mutual beneficial solution. However, PM Tariceanu even if he admitted that his Chancellery cannot contest the decision, he harshly criticized it.

Tariceanu announced that the 27 million euro will be recovered by diminishing the value of regional state subsidies offered to Ford like stipulated in the privatization contract. At their turn, Ford Europe officials declared in a press release remitted to HotNews.ro that its plans to take over Automobile Craiova did not change.

 The European Commission officially ruled on Wednesday that the 27 million euro that the Romanian Government granted to Automobile Craiova is illegal and hinders competition. The European Commission started investigating the privatization process of the Romanian car producer Automobile Craiova in 2007 when the process started.