Romanian MPs vote on privatization
BUCHAREST (AFP) – Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase called yesterday for a parliamentary confidence vote on a new privatization bill, saying Bucharest must do more to attract foreign investment in the region. «This initiative is necessary because of the increasingly strong competition between countries of the former communist bloc, at a time when developed countries face slowing economic growth,» he said. «By putting this bill before Parliament, the government proves that it is determined to accelerate economic reforms, to strengthen the mechanisms of the market economy, to reduce the gap which separates Romania from developed countries and to improve the standard of living of Romanians,» he added. According to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development published at the end of 2001, the private sector represents 62 percent of Romania’s gross domestic product, but industrial production continues to be primarily in the State’s hands. The bill aims notably «at making privatization procedures more simple, more transparent and more coherent,» said Nastase, whose government has a comfortable majority in Parliament. Nastase, who took office at the end of 2000 vowing to accelerate Bucharest’s progress toward EU and NATO entry, added that the bill would, for the first time, make it possible for loss-making companies to be sold for a symbolic one euro, while obliging purchasers of such firms to modernize them. The bill, which has been discussed with international financial institutions, will also give firms being privatized tax advantages and allow them to reschedule state debts. It will also open public sector services to private investment, which should be cheaper and better as a result, Nastase said, adding that the bill would need «substantial» credit from the European Union and the World Bank.
