Romanian business leaders feel “seduced and abandoned” by Government

Romanian Business Leaders (RBL), one of the leading local business organizations, stated that the Government's support measures for entrepreneurs have failed to meet their goal.

The implementation of the three types of grants (EUR 1.5 billion altogether) has not been completed, which leaves many local small businesses still struggling to survive. "We were seduced and abandoned," said Dragos Petrescu, vice president of Romanian Business Leaders, quoted by Ziarul Financiar.

While the organization appreciates the Government's openness to dialogue, it accuses the delay in the evaluation and payment of the working capital grants meant to help the SMEs hit by the COVID-19 crisis.

The money was supposed to be disbursed by the end of 2020, but only 4,000 of the 19,000 firms that applied have received the money so far.

The RBL representatives also believe that the investment grants for SMEs risk turning into a major failure, mainly due to the Economy Ministry's complete lack of transparency and openness to dialogue when it established the selection criteria.

Last year, the Parliament passed a different score grid for evaluating investment projects, but the former Government went on with its initial version.

RBL also points out that Measure 3 is fraught with suspicions of fraud and that none of the SMEs to which this type of grant should have been addressed would obtain funding - as things currently stand.

The organization also mentions the urgent need for support for the hospitality industry by adopting and operationalizing the state aid scheme for this sector. The grants for companies in HoReCa should cover up to 20% of their turnover drop in 2020 compared to 2019.

Initially, the former Government promised EUR 500 million for this scheme. However, the sum allotted in this year's budget for the HoReCa grants is only about EUR 200 million, according to Marian Alecu, an investor in HoReCa and tourism.

"As an investor in HoReCa, I feel cheated, betrayed and offended," Alecu said, quoted by Ziarul Financiar, adding that what the Government is doing is totally different from what it promised.

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