Romania’s deputy prime minister Oana Gheorgiu announced that the inter-ministry committee for SOEs reform, which she chairs, also known as CNR9 since it addresses the reform no.9 under the National Relaunch and Resilience Plan, should wrap up the individual discussions with the first 22 SOEs shortlisted for “restructuring” by the end of this month. Decisions about what restructuring will mean for each of them will be made by the same deadline, she said.

“By the end of this month, we will have the analysis finalised with the performance discussions with the companies and a decision on restructuring," Gheorghiu told Digi24 on February 16. 

This is not the first time deputy PM Gheorghiu has promised to analyse the 22 SOEs: on January 12, she said the decision on the shortlisted state-owned enterprises would be made “in the second half of this month.”

"By the second half of January, the analyses for each company will be ready. We will have a diagnosis and a treatment recommendation, and based on these, the government will make the final decision for each company," she told Europa Libera Romania.

Whether the results of the performance discussions and analyses, specifically the decision on restructuring for the 22 SOEs, would be made public remains to be seen.

The process of analysing the 22 SOEs is being carried out together with the Agency for Monitoring and Evaluation of Public Enterprises Performance (AMEPIP), the institution responsible for the corporate governance of state-owned companies. However, the political responsibility stays with Oana Gheorghiu, who also supervises the other two chapters that have constantly disappointed over the past years: the digitalisation and de-bureaucratisation.

The deadline for the 22 SOEs’ restructuring decisions occurs at a time when concerns are growing about the pace of reforms among state-owned companies. 

The official calendar, underpinned by the PNRR milestones, is rather unambitious: three out of the 22 SOEs shortlisted for “restructuring” last fall should have a restructuring plan drafted by the end of August 2026. Initially, three SOEs were supposed to be listed, and 15% of the state’s participation in Hidroelectrica should have been sold on the market.  

Indeed, the updated calendar also requires Romania to settle the issue of provisional (politically-appointed) board members in all SOEs, and this target is more ambitious: it should be completed by the end of March 2026. However, Oana Gheorghiu explained that the simple initiation of a new selection process for new members ticks the box.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Gov.ro)