European Commission Conditionally Approves 57 Mln Euro State Aid to Ford Romania

"The Commission found the aid to be in line with EU rules on training aid because it is targeted at redressing a verified market failure - underinvestment in training and is appropriate as policy instrument. It has a demonstrated incentive effect and is limited in amount to covering respectively 50% of the eligible costs of general training, and 25% of the eligible costs of specific training," the Commission said in a statement.

However, the Commission said it has imposed conditions regarding the payment of the aid and reporting and monitoring requirements.

The requirements envisage that the aid shall be paid in periodic instalments and Ford Romania shall report annually to the Romanian authorities and the Commission on the training offered and the expenses incurred.

The employees of the company shall also receive attendance certificates stating the content of the training received.

The training programme at Ford Romania’s plant in Craiova, southwestern Romania, covers a total of 9,000 employees over a period of five years. The overall cost of the training programme is around 185 million euro, of which the company would finance approximately 128 million euro. The programme targets in-depth training on diverse areas of knowledge, such as safety, languages, IT, business fundamentals and general industrial skills.

($=0.6628 euro)