May 8 (SeeNews) - The European Commission said on Tuesday it has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether Romania's various public support measures for the National Uranium Company (CNU) are in line with EU rules on state aid.
In particular, the investigation will examine whether the proposed restructuring plan could restore the long-term viability of CNU without continued state aid, whether CNU or market investors sufficiently contribute to the restructuring costs and whether Romania is offering appropriate measures to limit the distortions of competition created by the aid, the EU's executive body said in a statement.
"At this stage, the Commission has doubts that the planned restructuring aid is in line with these conditions," it said.
In June 2017, Romania notified to the Commission a plan for CNU's restructuring amounting to 95 million euro ($113 million euro) in the form of grants, subsidies, debt write-off and debt-to-equity conversion. This followed an urgent rescue aid loan of around 13.3 million euro to keep the company afloat, which the Commission temporarily approved at end-September 2016.
CNU is a fully state-owned Romanian company active in the operation of Romanian uranium mines and production of raw material transformed into fuel for nuclear power plants.
CNU has two operating sites: an uranium mining site, located in Crucea-Botusana, Suceava county, and a processing-refining plant, located in Feldioara, in Brasov county. In 2017 the company employed 772 people.
CNU has been in financial difficulty since the loss of its main client Nuclearelectrica, the operator of Romania's sole nuclear power plant Cernavoda.
($=0.8385 euro)