State aid case SA.43785 | Restructuring aid for CE Hunedoara

Background information:

CE Hunedoara is a Romanian State-owned electricity and heat producer, which also operates hard coal mines to fuel its power plants.

The European Commission approved in April 2015 temporary rescue aid of €37.7 million to the energy producer, in financial difficulty since 2013.

In the context of this decision, Romania committed to submit a restructuring plan aimed at ensuring the future viability of CE Hunedoara, if the company were unable to pay back the rescue aid in six months' time. In addition, in a separate decision dated 20 April 2015, the Commission concluded that CE Hunedoara had to repay around €6 million of incompatible State aid.

The Commission expressed doubts whether the proposed restructuring plan could restore the long-term viability of the company without continued State aid.

The European Commission decided on 12 March 2018 to open an in-depth investigation to assess whether various public support measures from Romania in favour of energy producer Complexul Energetic Hunedoara are in line with EU rules on State aid to companies in difficulty.

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