The Romanian government has reduced the financial aid for the hospitality industry, including restaurants and hotels, by 60 percent — from the originally planned EUR 500 million to EUR 200 million.
The original government emergency ordinance, made by the Orban cabinet before parliamentary elections last year, ordered the allocation of EUR 500 million (about RON 2.5 billion) to help out the HORECA sector (Hotel/Restaurant/Catering). This ordinance was modified last Friday by the new Cîțu cabinet by decreasing the total budget to EUR 200 million (about RON 1 billion).
The allocation method has also been changed. According to the original plan, companies claiming the subsidy would have received 20 percent of their turnover loss suffered from 2019 to 2020, but no more than EUR 800,000. Meanwhile, if the total budget would not have been enough, then the “first come, first serve” principle would have been applied. But according to the new method, all claimants will receive some amount of money, and the EUR 200 million will be divided into as many parts as the number of companies that apply.
“This way, everyone will receive money, and no one will be disadvantaged. If there is not enough money in the budget for everyone, then everyone will receive less, but everyone will still receive some amount,” wrote Minister of Economy Claudiu Năsui in a Facebook post.
The minister gave a long explanation in his post as to how this new method is much more democratic than the previous one, but he fails to mention that the total budget, which will be divided among the beneficiary companies, was decreased by 60 percent compared to the original plan.
Furthermore, originally in 2020, the Ministry of the Economy led by Năsui’s predecessor, Virgil Popesco, allegedly calculated the total budget (EUR 500 million) in a way where it would have been enough for all eligible companies, despite the first-come-first-serve principle. (maszol.ro)
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