Speaker Dragnea: Government's objective cannot be to put business people in prison

The objective of a government cannot be to put business people in prison, the Chamber of Deputies' Speaker Liviu Dragnea said on Wednesday at the launch of the 2018 edition of the State Aid Scheme, instituted by Government's Decision (HG) no. 807, an event organized at the Parliament Palace by the Ministry of Business, Commerce and Entrepreneurship. 

"We have to be aware that we are not living in a silk cocoon, that we have started a process of change of attitude and approach from public servants, from state control institutions towards the business environment, a process that has been built over many years. It is about a mentality built over many years in terms of the approach to private companies in particular, and I am speaking here about all the control institutions - ANAF [the National Agency for Fiscal Administration, edn.] and other institutions that exercise control, the prosecutor's offices and so on. Our approach is entirely different and the objectives of a government cannot be to put businesspeople in prison, to shut down companies but on the contrary, to prevent, support and together build an administrative and bureaucratic system that is stimulating," the PSD chair said. 

Dragnea announced that in the talks with Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and the relevant ministers the amount of one billion euro was set to be allocated to the state aid scheme. 

"This is not a small amount, but this decision was made for two reasons: firstly, to have a strategic approach over a multiannual period, and to know that one billion euro is the amount set out for the next five years to be accessible to state aid schemes, with investments of up to 10 million euro and investments of over 10 million euro with different rules; and secondly to obtain and we will obtain a multiplying effect and total investments in Romania of at least 5 billion euro," Liviu Dragnea detailed. 

He also announced that they also discussed the amendment of HG no. 807, which "represents one of the heights of bureaucracy." 

"Far too many documents, too many papers that must be drawn up by commercial companies to gain access to these state aid schemes. We have promises from the Ministry of Finance and the other ministries involved that in a very short time this HG will be altered. We have also established together which is the best procedure for the allocation of these state aids. (...) There is no point in inventing all sorts of obstacles, bureaucratic procedures, to have the fewest possible projects approved and as many problems as possible. I encourage you to submit applications for this state aid scheme, which is viewed differently. (...) For us, the development of the Romanian business environment is a strategic mission and not a whim," the Chamber of Deputies' Speaker showed.