Privatizarea în România

In 1989 Romania, together with many other countries, paced on the twisted way leading to a market economy. It proved to be a long-term, difficult task: to adopt new functional rules and structures instead of a centralized way of “doing business”. A market economy is based on the private property. For the former communist countries the private property could have been established by two means: creating new private enterprises or privatizing state-owned companies. Yet the first solution had a smaller significance, because in all these countries there existed already a huge industrial potenrial as “public patrimony”. These resources, as well as already organized productions were an important point of departure, while the new created companies had to take it from zero. So, privatization is the essence of the economic reform in former communist countries.

On the other hand it became evident that the economic development of our country would be much stimulated by a close cooperation with neighbor European countries, especially the developed ones. Romania has confirmed many times its determination to become a member of the European Union, and on the list of criteria to be achieved by the adherent countries clarification of the property rights, including privatization, clear definition of the public and private state sector and the problem of restitution, holds on important place. This aspect was underlined in the most important documents of Romania’s integration strategy: Agenda 2000, National Programs for Accession to the EU, National Strategy for Economic Development on medium term. The new Government has included the accession to the EU in its strategy as a priority objective, at least on a declarative level, and the items regarding the privatization maintain their importance. In a recent press release dating 18 Jan. 2001 Mr. Giovanni Ravasio, Director General for Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission underlined in his meeting with Romania’s President, Mr. Ion Iliescu and Romanian Prime Minister Mr. Adrian Nastase that the EU considers of major importance for Romania to accelerate the privatization and restructuring of the industrial sector.

1. Privatization in Romania.

The methods and measures on which the privatization process was based do not constitute a clear and coherent strategy.

The first steps in creating private property in Romania were taken from the very first year after the Revolution: in August 1990 the Law 15/1990 created the legal frame for founding public commercial companies and “Regies autonomes”, a special type of company which is a private property of the state. Thus, the privatization process was conceived to take place in two steps: (1) state-owned enterprises have been converted either into commercial or joint-stock companies which are to be privatized, or into “regies autonomes” (in strategic sectors like defense, mining, infrastructure) and (2) the privatization itself. Commercial companies were required to evaluate their assets and to transfer shares equal to 30% of their value to the National Agency for Privatization created under the same Law, while the remaining equity should be sold, so as by the end of 1993 50% of the equity should be privately owned. This Law had some shortcomings, and in July 1991 a new Privatization law is adopted: the Law 58/1991 created the State-Ownership Fund (SOF) and 5 Private Ownership Funds (POF), the institutional framework for the privatization process, and also stipulated the methods used for the privatization: Romanian citizens would be given, free of charge, 30% of indirect interest in state-owned commercial companies, the share which will be transferred to the 5 POFs. The POFs will issue one ownership certificate to each eligible citizen (those over 19 years before December, 31, 1991) which will be in bearer form and freely transferable only among Romanian citizens The remaining share of 70% is transferred to the SOF in order to be privatized by selling the companies to the strategic investors (unforunately, this attribute of “strategic” was often looked over in the process of pravatization). New settlements were adopted in all following years.

At the end of the 1997 the Urgent Government Ordinancy no. 88/1997 has canceled all previous laws and reglementations and has set a new legal frame for the privatization process, as well as the methods to be used in the privatization process. Some other stipulations of smaller importance were adopted in the last three years.