The interim CEO of Hidroelectrica, Bogdan Badea, criticized excessive bureaucracy and legislative changes regarding corporate governance, stating that these affect the activity of state-owned companies and the relationship with investors.
“What prevents us from doing things better? We have recently drawn attention to excessive bureaucracy and the modification of the legislative framework on corporate governance starting last year. Today, while we were discussing, a decision of the Constitutional Court has just come out regarding an article that was modified last year – it referred to representation expenses. In other words, if we, as company leaders, go to represent the company – and that’s what we’ve been doing for years at investor roadshows that are held in the major financial centers of the world, in London, in New York, they’re not held at McDonald’s in New York and they’re not held at McDonald’s in London, they’re held in areas where the bankers are, the investors are, they’re the ones who can invest in you. And what hasn’t been understood in Romania is that we are a dot on the map (…)”, stated Bogdan Badea, quoted by Agerpres.
According to him, the representatives of Romanian companies are the ones who have to convince investment funds to ‘put money’ in them and not elsewhere.
“We have to go there and convince an investment fund that, instead of putting money in Africa or Asia or in a company in Brazil, to put money in Hidroelectrica or in any other company listed in Romania. It is a competition and any analyst there looks on the one hand at what is happening in that country and the news is the first thing they see and, after that, they want to interact with the company’s management to understand what has been done so far, how the company operates, what are the implementation risks, what are the future plans. Later, they make the decision to put money in or not,” he explained.
In this context, Badea referred to an article in OUG 109 which stipulated that “it is a benefit of the management to take the plane and go to represent the company.”
“Last year, for example, this article, which was declared unconstitutional, considered it a benefit for management to take a plane and go represent the company. (…) Through the discussions we had later with the Romanian Parliament, this issue was corrected, which was later challenged at the Constitutional Court and today it was clarified: it does not represent a benefit. This is also true for the dignitaries of the Romanian state, who are underpaid when they have to represent Romania. I am not a politician, so I allow myself not to be a populist. I believe that neither the President of Romania nor the Prime Minister nor the parliamentarians and ministers should have derisory remunerations or not have their representation expenses covered, because they represent the country”, said the interim CEO of Hidroelectrica.
He emphasized that the Romanian state spends a lot of money in many areas, and then “looks at the 36 euros per day” that a minister receives who goes to the European Commission to negotiate billions of euros for Romania.
“I think this country is a rich country, but we are somehow the poor rich girl, because we spend a lot of money in many areas and then we look at the 36 euros per day that Minister X receives, who goes to the European Commission to negotiate billions with the European Commission. The same thing is true in companies. And, in companies, if we want to make a serious reform, if we want to talk about serious corporate governance, we have to look at what others have done. Nothing more, nothing less. Let us no longer be treated as public servants, as public institutions, because that is not the case,” emphasized the interim general director of Hidroelectrica.