State aid of 2.25 billion lei for initial investments with major impact on the economy

The ministry of finances proposes a new schedule for state aid worth 2.25 billion lei, which includes the non-refundable financing for investments with major impact in the Romanian economy, whose eligible costs surpass 50 million lei.According to a press release of the institution, the financing agreements will be issued before December 2026 and the payment of state aid will be made between 2025 and 2032. ‘We come with this proposal as we want to draw to Romania investments of large scale, which we want to direct towards the less developed regions of the country for a new boost of development and prosperity in these areas. We focus on the multiplier effect of the investments: not only will they boost the competitiveness of some of Romania’s traditional industries, but they will also create employment opportunities for thousands of citizens across the country. We can see that the state aid granted by the ministry of finance between 2007 and 2023 has proved to be a real tool to stimulate the attraction of investment and the creation of new jobs: so far, 304 agreements have been issued for funding to support investments worth 6.7 billion euro, generating more than 61,000 jobs. The value of direct contributions generated by investment projects is around 4 billion euros’ said Finance Minister Marcel Bolos.In order to benefit from financing, the companies must make an initial investment in Romania, in maximum three years since the starting date, in one of the eligible sectors included in the state aid programme. Similarly, they do not have to get into the category ‘ enterprises in difficulty’ not to be in receivership, insolvency, bankruptcy, judicial reorganization, dissolution, operational closure, liquidation or temporary suspension of activity and are not the subject of State aid recovery decisions.At the same time, the potential beneficiaries must not benefit from other regional state aids for eligible costs such as salary costs in the same single project of investments and not to make any relocation towards the unit where there takes place the initial investment. "Additionally for companies with at least one completed financial year, in order to be eligible for state aid, they must have a turnover return greater than zero in one of the last three completed financial years and positive equity in the last completed financial year. At the same time, to be eligible, in addition to the general criteria, newly established companies must have a paid-up subscribed share capital of at least 100,000 lei and must not have shareholders who own or have owned in Romania in the last two years prior to the date of registration of the application an enterprise with the same object of activity for which they are applying for funding," the press release states. Registration of applications for funding approval is carried out in annual sessions announced at least 60 working days in advance, each session lasting 30 working days.   State aid will be granted on the basis of eligible expenditure such as construction works, purchase of equipment and intangible assets and the investment assets must be new.   The new state aid scheme is based on the European regulatory framework in force until 31 December 2026. The draft regulation is published on the MF website under the heading Decision-making transparency.