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EC report to give nod to Automobile Craiova privatization - sources

The European Commission's report on the privatisation of the SC Automobile Craiova (south) is expected to be favorable to plant's takeover by US company Ford, authorized sources from the Ministry told Rompres on Wednesday.

'The report whereby the European Commission investigates wether the state aid granted to Ford Corp. come against European norms or not is to offer, in two stages, a solution that is mainly favorable to the privatisation deal,' the cited sources said. The positive relevant signs received from Brussels by the Romanian authorities in charge resulted in the Romanian Senate's adopting, on Wednesday, by a vote of 56 to 3 and 4 abstentions, of the draft law on specific measures to be taken for the privatisation of Automobile Craiova. Sebastian Vladescu, chairman of the Commission for the privatizartion of Automobile Craiova, said that the agreement is to come in force only after it gets the nod of the European Commission. 'The European Commission continued investigations, and we - in keeping with our understanding with the European Commission - halted procedures related to the contract's coming in force, which included also the procedure related to the approval of the law. Currently, discussions between Romania and the EU have been concluded. The European Commission told us that by February 28 we will learn about the final decision related to this agreement. We are quite optimistic about the EC decision on the privatisation of the Craiova-based plant and in this context, and in order to give Ford Corp. the possibility to start action in Craiova in March, we considered we can go on with parliamentary procedures, with the final vote to be cast immediately as we receive the final document from the European Commission,' Vladescu said. In his turn, Minister-delegate for Parliament liaison Mihai Voicu stressed that production at the Craiova is currently halted, with the 3,700 employees 'just waiting for something to happen.' He also added that the privatisation of Automobile Craiova 'is not one of those deals closed just for the sake of putting it into private hands,' as its completion will result in 300,000 cars being produced annually, direct investments in re-engineering worth 675 million euros, the doubling of the number of employees, the generation of 30,000 jobs in related industries. Mihai Voicu also said the trade unions, political parties, the public opinion and the media in the Dolj county (south) support the privatisation process as well. Sursa: http://www.rompress.ro

Tags: privatisation commission european sources automobile craiova report