Consultant: Romania's Govt. may never unblock investment grant scheme for SMEs

Romania's Government is running out of time and money in implementing the scheme of investment grants for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), argued Cristina Itcus, managing partner of the consultancy company CBS Customs Business Solutions, in a live conference organized by Ziarul Financiar daily.

The scheme, known as Measure 3 of a broader support program for Romanian SMEs and microenterprises financed from the European Union's budget, could be permanently blocked, given that the financing agreements must be signed by June 30, 2021, argues George Velcea, president of the European Association of Young Entrepreneurs.

"The complaint submitted [by the minister of economy Claudiu Nasui] to anticorruption prosecutors only aims to delay the process. If the financing agreements are not signed by June 30, Romania will use the European money [for this scheme]," Velcea said at the ZF Live business show.

The irregularities spotted by minister Nasui could have been easily settled, argues Cristina Itcus.

"The main problem is that the Ministry of Economy no longer has money for Measure 3," she says. The money was shifted to Measure 2 (working capital grants), she explained.

"I think this measure was simply buried," she concluded, explaining that "there is no time to resume the procedures from scratch."

More than 20,000 Romanian SMEs applied for the investment grants worth between EUR 50,000 and EUR 200,000.

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