Romania sets up commissions to elect new leadership for SOE oversight agency

The Romanian government has initiated the process to appoint new leadership for the Agency for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Performance of Public Enterprises (AMEPIP), Economedia.ro reported. The move follows the creation of selection commissions through an order signed by the General Secretariat of the Government.

The procedure is critical to unlocking EUR 330 million in funding under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), which requires Romania to ensure proper governance of its state-owned enterprises (SOEs). AMEPIP, established under a bill introduced by former Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, is intended to improve the performance of SOEs and operates under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister and the Secretary General of the Government.

The latest effort to appoint AMEPIP management follows a failed attempt in 2023. The first leadership team, appointed in December 2023, resigned in July 2024 after Economedia.ro reported concerns over conflicts of interest and insufficient qualifications among the appointees.

With state-owned companies in Romania collectively generating revenues in the hundreds of millions of euros, the role of AMEPIP is seen as a key structural reform under the PNRR agreement between Romania and the European Union.

Failure to complete the appointment process in accordance with EU standards could result in the forfeiture of EUR 330 million in PNRR funds allocated to Romania, which are contingent on progress in SOE reform.

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