Romania offers state aid for Bosch and De’Longhi’s new investments in the country

The Romanian Government is considering offering state aid to German group Bosch, which is preparing a EUR 77 million investment in the Cluj area of Romania, and for De’Longhi’s planned take over of the former Nokia factory at the same site. Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc (in picture, right) recently met Fabio de’Longhi (in picture, left), CEO of De’Longhi and Guenther Gauß, executive vice-president of Bosch’s Automotive Electronics, which secured 215,000 sqm near Cluj, at Jucu, where it plans to create 300 new jobs in a first phase.

Read More

Malév shuts down, but which carriers might be interested in the 27 monopoly routes from Budapest?

Malév’s cessation of operations today begs the question of what the route network implications are for Budapest Airport. During the current winter season, Malév has accounted for just over 42% of Budapest’s scheduled traffic, operating to 43 destinations non-stop. On 21 of these routes (accounting for 65% of Malév’s weekly seat capacity), passengers have had the choice of at least one alternative airline, while the remaining 22 routes are not served by any other carrier. For the upcoming summer season, Malév’s network was expected to grow to 54 non-stop routes, of which 27 would be served by at least one other carrier and 27 on which Malév would have been facing no direct competition.

Read More

Recession forces local exporters to cast net wide

After Romanian exports posted an encouraging 22.5 percent growth in the first 11 months of last year on the same period of 2010, companies are now facing a rough ride as the looming recession in the European Union, Romania’s main export destination, threatens their foreign sales. Emerging markets outside the EU are luring local companies but to what extent are they a viable alternative?

Read More