The European Commission found on Monday that the various measures of public support in favor of the National Company of Uranium SA (CNU) in Romania are not in line with the EU regulations regarding the state aid granted to the companies in difficulty, informs a press release of the European Executive.

As a result, Romania cannot implement the support measures provided for in the restructuring plan. Also, the country must recover from the company the incompatible state aid, worth 13 million euro, granted in 2016, and the related interest, says the European Commission.

On June 12, 2017, Romania informed the European Commission about the CNU restructuring plan, company facing financial difficulties. The restructuring plan came after an emergency aid granted to keep the company active, worth about 13 million euro (62 million lei), which the EU Executive approved temporarily on September 30, 2016.

EU state aid regulations allow only under certain conditions the state intervention for a firm in financial difficulty. On May 8, 2018, the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether the original restructuring plan is in line with these conditions and thus with EU state aid regulations. The investigation of the EC has shown that the latest restructuring plan, like the previous one, does not cast away the fears that the European Commission had when starting an in-depth investigation, in 2018.

Therefore, the Community Executive has concluded that the restructuring plan submitted by Romania is not in line with the EU state aid regulations. As a result, Romania cannot implement the aid measures provided in the plan, which include state subsidies and the non-reimbursement of the rescue loan from 2016, according to Agerpres.

Furthermore, the European Commission has concluded that the 13 million euro state aid, granted in 2016, and related interest, are not compatible with EU state aid regulations and must be recovered.