On Monday 18 December, the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation to determine whether two measures taken by the Romanian authorities in favour of the public rail freight operator CRF Marfa constitute a breach of the EU state aid rules.
CRF Marfa is an incumbent public operator active in the rail freight sector in Romania. The company has been in financial difficulties since 2009 at least, partly as it is in considerable debt to the national social security authority and the national tax administration as well as the Romanian railway infrastructure manager, CRF Infrastructure, which is wholly owned by the state.
In order to resolve these problems, the Romanian state decided in 2013 to convert its credit in CRF Marfa into capital shares worth in the region of €360 million. It has, furthermore, failed to collect tax and social security arrears from the transport operator since at least 2010, as well as its debt to CRF Infrastructure.
As the rail freight sector is highly competitive in Romania due to the presence of several private operators, the association of private Romanian rail freight operators made an official complaint to the Commission in March of this year in order to determine whether the EU State aid rules had been breached.
The Commission will therefore look into the above two measures and assess whether they constitute state aid and, if so, whether they are compatible with EU rules. The institution will look in particular at whether the Romanian state intervened under conditions that a private operator would have agreed to, which would not, in this case, constitute state aid, or if, on the contrary, these operations have implied an undue economic advantage for the benefit of CRF Marfa. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)