Draft legislation: Carpatica Feroviar, instead of CFR Marfă

Carpatica Feroviar would take over the activity of CFR Marfă, according to a draft government decision found in decisional transparency on the website of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure proposing the establishment of the new company.

According to the draft law that needs the approval of the Supreme Council of National Defense and the Competition Council, the future company is one of "strategic interest for the country's defense needs".

In the substantiation note of the GD project it is stated: "The extraordinary events of the years 2020-2023 have revealed the need of the Romanian state to be able to rely on the existence of a railway freight transport company that will be able to carry out the following types of transports: - the transport of troops, equipment, machinery, weapons, in case of mobilization of the armed forces of Romania and of strategic partners; - the transport of humanitarian aid for areas affected by armed conflicts, to ensure international cooperation; - the transport of grain, raw materials and fuel, to avoid a food or energy crisis. At the same time, Military Mobility is a new element introduced by the European Commission for the 2021-2027 programming period, which is also included in the Regulation on the Mechanism for the Interconnection of Europe 2021-2027 (CEF 2.0). The Romanian state assumed the increase of military mobility by joining the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and within the NATO Summit in June 2018".

The cited document also shows that, in order to satisfy the defense needs of the country and within the scope of its activity, the future railway company will have the following obligations: to participate together with the other responsible factors in the preparation and implementation of the mobilization plan; to ensure the reserves and capacities necessary for the fulfillment of mobilization tasks; to draw up the documents regarding the completion of the workforce needed in case of war with personnel with military obligations; to ensure the civil protection of its own personnel, passengers and goods entrusted for transport in case of special situations, including calamities.

However, the draft normative act stipulates that the future state railway company "will be privatized after the end of the first two financial years, in accordance with the law, by reducing the state's participation by 20% of the value of the shares of the initial social capital; the shares issued by the Company can be quoted on the stock exchange and traded freely on the capital market".

The social capital of the new company would be 125,000 lei and is constituted by payment from the state budget, through the budget of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure for the year 2024, and the money comes from the Government's Reserve Fund. The initial share capital will be divided into 12,500 registered shares, each with a nominal value of 10 lei, fully owned by the state through the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. The draft normative act also provides that a capital increase will subsequently take place, in order to fully capitalize the new company, according to the test of the prudent private investor.

We remind you that, regarding CFR Marfă, the Romanian state has the obligation to quickly recover the state aid declared illegal by European Commission Decision C(2020) 1115 final of 24.02.2020. It is about 2.6 billion lei plus related interest. Therefore, taking into account the situation in which CFR Marfă finds itself, in relation to which the main objective of the Romanian state is the reimbursement of illegal state aid and the implementation of the decision of the European Commission, the Ministry of Transport considers that there is a need to establish a new viable company strategic interest, to serve the defense needs of the country.