Romania's outgoing prime minister Viorica Dancila said on Monday she planned to speak to German chancellor Angela Merkel about a letter sent by the European People's Party (EPP) to Volkswagen in support of Bulgaria's offer to become home to the automaker's planned new manufacturing plant – a project that Romania is also vying for.
"I will make a phone call to Mrs Merkel, I will do everything possible to bring this investment to our country," Viorica Dancila said in a televised statement, adding Romania's offer was better.
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SeeNews reported Dancila, leader of the Social Democrat Party (PSD), also said Romania's opposition National Liberal Party (PNL) and president Klaus Iohannis knew about the existence of a letter of support for Bulgaria's bid sent by EPP to VW but "did nothing about it". PNL and Bulgaria's governing GERB party are both members of the EPP's political family.
"The [Romanian] minister of business, commerce and entrepreneurship was in Germany talking about this project, we have the most favourable conditions for investment but unfortunately we do not have the necessary support. The EPP group sent a letter supporting Bulgaria. Weber, who is leader of the EPP group, sent this letter to Volkswagen. I wonder where PNL was, what Iohannis did to prevent this," Dancila said.
SeeNews, citing local media, said the PNL leader and prime minister-designate Ludovic Orban denied EPP's involvement in the issue and stressed no political party could intervene in any company's business decisions.
On Tuesday, the Romanian ministry of business, commerce and entrepreneurship said Romania had resumed talks with VW on hosting the car maker's future new factory, after the company said it had postponed the final decision on whether to build the facility in Turkey because of international criticism of Ankara's military operation in northern Syria.
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By GlobalDataGiven the situation in Turkey, VW could change the location for its new factory and might look at Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria, local media reported earlier.
VW announced at the beginning of the month it had decided to open a new factory in the Turkish city of Manisa following an initial investment of EUR1.3bn (US$1.43bn). The planned production capacity of the plant is 300,000 units per year.
SeeNews noted Romania had been in a political deadlock since 10 October, when Dancila's Social-Democrat government lost a no-confidence vote sought by PNL. Five days later president Klaus Iohannis said he had appointed Ludovic Orban as prime minister-designate tasked with forming a transitional government.
Meanwhile, romania-insider.com said the letter mentioned by Dancila, however, was not addressed to VW but to the European Commission and it didn't say Volkswagen should pick Bulgaria for its new factory but that the European Commission should investigate the terms under which VW initially decided to invest in Turkey "to the disadvantage of countries such as Bulgaria".
The letter was dated 3 October, before Volkswagen announced it would delay its investment in Turkey after the Turkish military offensive in northern Syria.
