The interim general director of Hidroelectrica, Bogdan Badea, criticized on Wednesday excessive bureaucracy and legislative changes regarding corporate governance, stating that these affect the activity of state-owned companies and the relationship with investors.
"What prevents us from doing things better? We have recently drawn attention to excessive bureaucracy and the modification of the legislative framework on corporate governance since last year. Today, while we were discussing, a decision of the Constitutional Court has just been issued regarding an article that was modified last year - it referred to representation expenses. In other words, if we, as company leaders, go to represent the company - and that's what we have been doing for years at roadshows with investors that are held in the major financial centers of the world, in London, in New York, they are not held at McDonald's in New York and they are not held at McDonald's in London, they are held in areas where the bankers are, the investors are, they are the ones who can invest in you. And what was not understood in Romania is that we are a dot on the map (...)," declared Bogdan Badea, at the conference "Upgrade Romania: Life after PNRR: How to avoid the investment collapse in 2027".
According to him, the representatives of Romanian companies are the ones who must convince investment funds to "put money" in them and not elsewhere.
"We have to go there and convince an investment fund that, instead of putting money in Africa or Asia or a company in Brazil, to put money in Hidroelectrica or any other company listed in Romania. It's a competition and any analyst there looks at what's happening in that country and the news is the first thing they see and, after that, they want to interact with the company's management to understand what has been done so far, how the company works, what are the implementation risks, what are the future plans. Later, they make the decision to put money in or not," he explained.
In this context, Badea referred to an article in OUG 109 which stipulated that "it is a benefit of management to take the plane and go to represent the company."
"Last year, for example, this article, which was declared unconstitutional, considered it a benefit for management to take the plane and go represent the company. (...) Through the discussions we had later with the Romanian Parliament, this issue was corrected, which was later challenged at the Constitutional Court and today it was clarified: it does not represent a benefit. This is also valid for the dignitaries of the Romanian state, who are underpaid when they have to represent Romania. I am not a politician, so I allow myself not to be a populist. I believe that neither the president of Romania nor the prime minister nor the parliamentarians and ministers should have derisory remunerations or not have their representation expenses covered, because they represent the country," said the interim general director of Hidroelectrica.
He emphasized that the Romanian state spends a lot of money in many areas, after which "they look at the 36 euros per day" that a minister receives when he goes to the European Commission to negotiate billions of euros for Romania.
"I think this country is a rich country, but we are somehow the poor rich girl, because we spend a lot of money in many areas and then we look at the 36 euros per day that Minister X receives, who goes to the European Commission to negotiate billions with the European Commission. The same thing is true in companies. And, in companies, if we want to make a serious reform, if we want to talk about serious corporate governance, we have to look at what others have done. Nothing more, nothing less. Let's stop being treated like public servants, like public institutions, because that's not how it is," emphasized the interim general director of Hidroelectrica.
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