PM Orban says Dacia Renault management assured of gov't openness to dialogue

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Thursday, at the end of a visit to the Dacia plant at Mioveni, Arges City, that he had assured the plant's management of collaboration in order to establish the best measures to support the automotive sector.

"We wanted to come here in an important governmental team in order to see for ourselves the good things that are happening at Dacia-Renault, the gradual resumption of production. We had a conversation with the company's management regarding the resumption and growth schedule. We also had a very important conversation on how the government can support the company and the automotive industry in general in order to be able to carry out its activity under the best circumstances," Orban told a news conference.

He pointed out that Dacia Renault is "extremely important to the Romanian economy" because it contributes 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while the entire automotive industry produces over 10% of GDP, providing over 14% of Romanian exports.

"We have assured the management of Dacia Renault of our total openness to dialogue, of our collaboration to establish the best measures to support the sector and, obviously, we are with the company Dacia Renault and its employees and also with all the suppliers that are connected to the Dacia Renault company, which is able to resume its operation and can practically provide jobs for their employees," said the prime minister.

Orban once again urged Romanians to buy cars, "preferably" manufactured in Romania.

"This epidemic is an opportunity, which gives us a good time to buy cars, because in your car you are safe and I think people have to buy cars with confidence. Of course, we have launched the car scrappage programme with 60,000 units; we also have a large number of units of both electric and hybrid vehicles. (...) We are preparing measures to support large companies, we are also preparing a raft of active measures to assist businesses operating in Romania. We are also considering making the work hours more flexible by amending the Labour Code and a number of other important economic measures," he said.

Orban said he was impressed by the measures taken at the Dacia Plant at Mioveni to protect employees, as well as the speed at which they were implemented.