PM Dancila: Gov't to adopt GEO on public-private partnership; we want to remove blockages and boost investment capacity

The Government will approve, through an Emergency Ordinance, a pack of measures regarding the public-private partnership, a normative act meant to remove blockages and boost investment capacity in Romania, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila made an announcement on Thursday. 

"Today we will adopt the Emergency Ordinance on the public-private partnership. By this Ordinance we wish to eliminate the blockages and also to increase investment capacity in Romania. We never had a law in Romania regarding the public-private partnership that was successful. This is, first of all, about unblocking the legislation, about reducing the time needed for granting the agreements, based on a background study they will use to make the selection of the private partners," specified Dancila, in the opening of the Government meeting. 

According to her, the new normative act also includes a series of measures referring to the local administrations. 

"In the local public administration they removed all the ex-ante approvals, so that based on the resolutions of the county council or the local council to be able to move directly (...) to the contractual period with the public-private partnership. Moreover, we are introducing for the first time, besides the construction of goods, also the operation of services, which is a first for Romania. At the same time, we exclude the application norms, for the law is clear and it can be applied of a direct manner. However, in order to ensure a good understanding of the law, we will issue a guide of good practices, which is not mandatory, but it can be used for guidance," said Dancila. 

The PM also added that "there will be established a one-year term for the creation of a special fund for financing public-private partnership at national level."