* Our privatizations seem copy-pasted: the state spends on call for bids, the companies to be privatized see their debts cancelled, the company gets sold, the privatization gets cancelled and it all ends in court
The Romanian state has once again failed in its bid to privatize CFR Marfă.
After several rounds of talks that were held over the last few days between the representatives of the Ministry of Transports and those of Grup Feroviar Român, which won the call for tenders, the two sides could not agree on a deadline for completing the privatization.
As a result, the procedure for the sale of 51% of the shares of CFR Marfă, which began in February this year, has failed, which would not be a first for Romania.
The privatization of CFR Marfă will be restarted from scratch, most likely starting today, according to some sources from the ministry.
The procedures which are supposed to be "major privatizations" all seem to follow the same pattern: at the behest of the IMF, the government spends large amounts of money on hiring consultants and a privatization commission, cancels the company's debts, designates a winner, then cancels the procedure for reasons which seem to invariably be the buyer's fault and it all ends in court, after the winning bidder sues the Romanian state.
Many of the market specialists estimate that the government has every "chance" of losing the before these investors and pay large amounts to compensate them.
Every time it happens, the Romanian government states that the procedures have been transparent and followed the law to the letter, with the investors taking the blame for the cancellation of the privatization, regardless of whether it is a Romanian businessman or a foreign company. Most of the times, the state changes mid-way various terms of the privatization strategy or of the law that approves the
