From November 2019, the Ministry of Public Finance has approved state aid for projects with major impact on the economy and regional development projects with total investments of over 1.76 billion lei, based on the schemes it manages. The value of the state aid granted to the 21 new projects is over 664 million lei (140 million euros).
The beneficiary projects will create 2,612 new jobs and will contribute with over 808 million lei to the regional development, through additional taxes paid as a result of their implementation. Investments are concentrated in the automotive industry, the aeronautical industry, the food industry and the production of household appliances.
At the same time, during this period, MFP paid a financing of over 499 million lei, for the financing agreements previously issued, based on the state aid scheme established by H.G. no.807 / 2014 (stimulation of investments with major impact in the economy, which finances tangible and intangible assets related to a new investment) and over 37 million lei, for financing agreements previously issued based on the state aid scheme established by H.G. no. 332/2014 (supporting investments that promote regional development by creating jobs).
Currently, MFP is analyzing 8 applications for financing, for investment projects whose value exceeds 445 million lei, for which the value of the requested state aid is over 189 million lei, and the implementation of investment projects will generate the creation of 629 new places for work.
Also, in order to ensure growth and to facilitate companies' access to state aid investment financing, given the current economic context generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, in July 2020 the Ministry of Public Finance amended and supplemented both GD.807 / 2014 and GD.332 / 2014 as well as the Applicant's Guides and the Payment Guides elaborated based on the government decisions related to the two state aid schemes.
The main changes of H.G. no. 807/2014 (investments with major impact):
- extending until 31.12.2023 the period for submitting financing agreements and the period for making payments until 31.12.2028;
- introduction of the possibility to extend the investment monitoring period by up to a maximum of 2 years in order to ensure the fulfillment by the economic operators of the special mentions in the financing agreements;
- eliminating the way of establishing the eligible expenses from the construction category based on the cost standard;
- increasing the term for starting the investment from 4 to 6 months;
- simplifying the demonstration of the incentive effect of state aid;
- introducing the possibility to prove the assurance of financing sources and the legal situation of the location after obtaining the financing agreement;
- the introduction of the obligation of the enterprise to make the contribution to the regional development at least at the level of the paid state aid, waiving the obligation for this contribution to be made at the level of the approved state aid;
- elimination of certain irrelevant quantitative and qualitative indicators in the analysis process, in order to relax the conditions for accessing non-reimbursable financing;
- introducing the possibility of submitting documents in the electronic version;
- clarification of some aspects that generated confusions or difficulties of interpretation of the provisions of the normative act.
The main changes of H.G. no.332 / 2014 (regional development):
- extending until 31.12.2023 the period for submitting financing agreements and the period for making payments until 31.12.2028;
- the introduction of the mechanism for the continuous submission of applications for funding and the elimination of selection on the basis of points;
- introducing the possibility of issuing draft agreements for financing after the exhaustion of the annual budget allocated to the scheme and their approval after the budget supplement or in the following year;
- introduction of the possibility to start the investment, to ensure the sources of financing and the legal situation of the location of the investment project after the submission of the application for financing;
- elimination of qualitative indicators in order to relax the conditions for accessing non-reimbursable financing;
- making the procedure for paying State aid more flexible and introducing the possibility of submitting documents in electronic form.