Romania's Ministry of Economy has EUR 180 mln arrears in unpaid strat-up grants

Romania's Ministry of Economy still has to disburse RON 870 million (EUR 180 mln) to the beneficiaries of the Start-Up Nation programs carried in past years (by the Social Democra Governments) - as this program was implemented at that time without the necessary funding, minister Claudiu Nasui said in a press conference on April 22.

The reformist (USR-PLUS) minister also criticized his predecessor in the Liberal Government of prime minister Ludovic Orban, current energy minister Virgil Popescu, for failing to secure the money for the working capital grants (Measure 2 under the bigger scheme dedicated to SMEs) when the scheme was launched.

"The priority was to pay the arrears. For example, under Start-Up Nation, we have inherited debts of RON 870 million, [because the] programs started without funding. In these conditions, our focus was to find the money for the COVID-19 aid measures, from European funds, for the HoReCa sector and to pay the arrears under Start-Up Nation, for which we already identified a lot of funds," Nasui said, Agerpres reported.

According to him, there has been no funding so far for Measure 2 of the money allocated to SMEs.

"Regarding Measure 2, this week, I went to the Ministry of European Funds to have discussions with minister Cristian Ghinea to identify money to unblock the payments under Measure 2. The measures started without that European funding, and our task now is to pay the money that was promised (by my Liberal predecessor). First to find it, then to pay it," Nasui continued.

He also promised that small and medium-sized companies would benefit from funds worth EUR 1 billion under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

(Photo source: Gov.ro)