EC urges Romania to recover illegal state aid from Oltchim, CE Hunedoara

The European Commission (EC) officially informed the Romanian authorities that they had to collect the incompatible state aids extended in the past to petrochemical plant Oltchim (EUR 335 million) and to the mining and power complex CE Hunedoara (EUR 60 million). While this might not generate major problems in the case of Oltchim (except for the other creditors of the insolvent petrochemical company, banks and utilities suppliers), CE Hunedoara can hardly avoid insolvency if required to pay back the EUR 60 million state aid since it is already in deep financial problems. In the case of Oltchim, the EC confirmed that the buyer of the company’s functioning assets (Chimcomplex) is in no way liable for the state aid. The court-appointed manager of Oltchim told Adevarul daily that the list of creditors will be revised in order to include the state’s claim related to the incompatible state aid. Chimcomplex has paid EUR 127 million for Oltchim’s functioning assets. In the case of CE Hunedoara, the EC concluded that the company has not observed the restructuring plan drafted in 2015 and revised in 2016 does not secure independent functioning of the company without further state aid, and anyway the restructuring plan was not observed. Therefore the company must return to the state four loans in amount of EUR 60 million plus interest. EC asks Romania to recover EUR 60 mln state aid from troubled power producer editor@romania-insider.com