Ponta has lost his optimism when it comes to the fate of the privatization of Oltchim

Prime Minister Victor Ponta isn't sounding so optimistic anymore when it comes to the chances of Oltchim of finding a great investor to save it. Prior to the failed privatization with Dan Diaconescu, the prime-minister was optimistic because of the large number of tender books which had been bought. But it's a long way from intention to a firm bid (just as big as the distance between Dan Diaconescu' statements and his actions).

Since Oltchim has surpassed the popularity of Dan Diaconescu's shows, Victor Ponta said yesterday: "At this time, the most important thing is to come up with the restructuring plan of Oltchim, and then the investors will come. But we shouldn't get our hopes up, not much. This isn't an industry where we will see a lot of investors. It is an area which is doing pretty badly in Europe and all over the world and there aren't many investors. The only powerful investor which expressed interest, but later withdrew, was TISE. I wish there had been investors from the United States, from France or from Germany as well, but no capable and powerful investors have expressed interest".

The concern of the head of the Executive also comes from the fact that "any amounts of money which get paid to Oltchim are immediately frozen by the creditors". Thus, that committee for restarting Oltchim needs to find the legal solution for preventing the money for the wages from being seized by creditors.

This week, the authorities are preparing to go to Brussels to talk about the state aid needed to resume the operation of Oltchim and the payment of outstanding wages, prime minister Victor Ponta said yesterday, denying some rumors which had been making the rounds.

He said that the government has sent to the European Commission the needed paperwork: "Commissioner Almunia told me that this week, he is waiting for the Romanian delegation to begin the technical talks on the aid for Oltchim. The Commissioner told me that we shouldn't grant that money before we have the agreement of the Commission".

The Prime Minister concluded that the issue of the state aid is extremely thorny and the Commission is treating it very carefully and he doesn't want to have a conflict on that subject.