March 12 (SeeNews) - The European Commission said on Monday it has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether Romania's various support measures for state-owned electricity and heat producer Complexul Energetic Hunedoara (CEH) are in line with EU state aid rules.
"At this stage, the Commission has doubts whether the proposed restructuring plan could restore the long-term viability of the company without continued state aid," the EU executive body said in a statement.
The Commission also expressed its concern that the the restructuring plan does not foresee a discernible contribution of CEH to the costs of restructuring, which is in conflict with EU state aid rules. Also, the plan does not envisage measures to limit possible distortions of competition as a result of the state support.
CEH entered into insolvency proceedings in 2016, which are currently suspended. At the time, the company had over 500 million euro debt owed to various state bodies. The debt included part of a 37.7 million euro rescue loan granted by Romania in 2015, as well as several additional loans of around 73 million euro, which Romania has granted to CEH since 2015 to keep the company afloat.