Romanian SocDems want to stop privatizations, recover damages

The Romanian state should stop all privatizations for a period of five years, according to a draft bill initiated by a group of Social Democrat MPs. Moreover, all the privatizations in the past ruled illegal in court should be canceled and the state should take back the shares or assets in the companies that have been fraudulently privatized, reports local Profit.ro. The draft law also targets the recovery of the Fondul Proprietatea shares allotted in illegal restitution cases, regardless of their current owners. “Public information shows that, at the moment, the privatization process of the state’s stakes is no longer an economic necessity and the state doesn’t need these revenues,” according to the bill’s initiators. The suspension of all privatizations for five years would allow the state to reevaluate its portfolio, make investments and better use its ownership of companies in strategic sectors, the project’s motivation says. The project also aims to help the state recover the damages taken in illegal privatizations and restitutions. According to the draft bill, the state will take back the majority stakes in companies that were privatized illegally. The investors who bought in good faith assets that were privatized illegally will be compensated by those who are found responsible for the illegal privatizations. The state will also take back the shares in Fondul Proprietatea that were allotted in restitution processes that are deemed illegal. The current owners of these shares will be compensated at the value at which they were granted in the first place, the draft law provides. The bill’s initiators also want the state to recover the land plots belonging to privatized companies that haven’t met their obligation to reevaluate these plots and to issue new shares in favor of the state in compensation for them. This draft law comes as the Government is currently working on creating a Sovereign Investment and Development Fund that would gather all the stakes the state still owns in local companies. editor@romania-insider.com