Ministry of Finance (MFP) did not pay the EUR 84 million (USD 200 million) plus penalties in damages to Swedish-Romanian investors Viorel and Ioan Micula, established by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington a month ago in a dispute over revoked subsidies and economic incentives.
“The payment claimed by MFP is a blatant lie, because the money was placed in an account at the Treasury and then were withdrawn,” Ioan Micula, co-owner of European Food & Drinks group said, quoted by news.ro.
However, the European Commission (EC) ordered Romania not to comply with the ICSID award because of the alleged incompatibility with EU state aid rules.
The businessman pointed out that payment obligation ordered by ICSID takes precedence over the EC decision, which considered the compensation as a state aid.
Miculas say that given that there is no way to communicate with MFP and the state does not want to pay the debt voluntarily, they gave a free hand to their lawyers to continue the execution of amounts on the territories of other ICSID Member States, where the Romanian state has assets or collects funds.
Since the Micula case involves an ICSID award, this award is automatically enforceable against Romania. Accordingly, neither Romania nor the EC can prevent the enforcement of the award, otherwise the ICSID Convention would be violated.