A RESTRUCTURING THE STEEL SECTOR IN THE NEW EU MEMBER STATES - THE ROMANIAN CASE

According to the EU rules, the state aid is considered to distort competition, favoring certain companies. Therefore, aid for steel companies are granted only for a limited period of lime, provided these companies become profitable at the end of the restructuring period and some of the production capacities tire closed Although there were not clear EC Guidelines for setting up a steel restructuring programme, according to the Protocol 2 of the Europe Agreement, in the new member states a number of specific causes established the main parameters Of a restructuring programme, viability, the minimum amount of State aid necessary to achieve viability and the reduction of capacity. Moreover, the obligation to have a restructuring programme in pre-accession countries aimed to ensure more transparency in the steel sector. For Romania, this restructuring period finished, according to the Accession Treaty, at the end of 2008.