Like other new EU member countries from central and eastern Europe, Romania’s economy has shown pretty high growth rates during this decade. Its GDP has averaged over 6% growth during this decade and its growth rate until 2010 is being forecast at over 5.5% yearly. Romania’s decision to introduce a flat income and corporate tax rate of just 16% provoked controversy in many of the EU-15. But this, together with a significantly more business-friendly domestic environment, is likely to have encouraged direct investment to Romania, some of it in the shape of existing production facilities in higher-cost EU states.
For would-be foreign investors, there remain key questions to be answered: How long can wages remain low when many Romanians are themselves moving to higher-wage countries? How threatening is the large current account deficit? What should Romania be doing to stop its boom economy from over-heating, and what steps must be taken now to ensure its growing economic success is also environmentally responsible?
On Tuesday 13 May, Friends of Europe, in association with the Banca Comerciala Romana SA (BCR) and Daniel Daianu MEP, organised a Café Crossfire evening debate to address these questions.
Featuring:
- Manfred Wimmer, CEO of Banca Comerciala Romana SA (BCR)
- Daniel Daianu, Member of the European Parliament and former Romanian Finance Minister
- Elena Flores Gual, European Commission Director for Economies of the Member States at the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs
- Mariana Gheorghe, CEO of Petrom SA
- Lyle Watters, Director Business Strategy, Ford Europe
Moderated by Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe