Economy Minister amid protest: Cugir Plants to Boost NATO-Standard Arms Production

The Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, Ştefan-Radu Oprea, claimed on Thursday in Cugir that there are “all the prerequisites” for the two arms factories in the city, the Arms Factory and the Cugir Mechanical Factory, to start producing more and more NATO-standard weapons.

However, almost 200 employees of the Arms Factory in Cugir, Alba County, participated in a protest on Thursday morning, complaining about the lack of contracts. The employees say that they are taught to work, but “are at the mercy of the Government” because they do not have contracts. While in Cugir, the Minister of Economy, whose resignation was demanded by the protesters, said that the fault also belongs to the company’s management, which did not seek contracts.

“We have all the premises, all the possibilities for both the Cugir Arms Factory and the Cugir Mechanical Plant to start producing more and more NATO standard weapons”, declared Economy Minister Ştefan-Radu Oprea, present in Cugir on the occasion of an anniversary event dedicated to the celebration of 225 years of activity.

The minister added that there are advanced discussions with several potential companies to carry out the technology transfer. “Today, there is a working group at the level of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of National Defense, other institutions of the Romanian state, which, in accordance with the law on industrial cooperation, defines what technology transfer and industrial cooperation mean in Romania. Certainly, no endowment of the Ministry of National Defense or the other ministries of force regarding the armament that can be produced here, at UM Cugir, or at the Factory, no acquisition will be made without a substantial technology transfer to Romania. That is, the weapons will be produced in Romania”, said Oprea.

Asked whether, in the context of the war in Ukraine, sales of weapons and ammunition produced in Romania have increased, the minister answered replied: “Yes, but I cannot give you details”, explaining that there are certain types of information, some of which are public, others are not public. “It is more than a duty to change, to transform the national defense industry to NATO standards”, said the minister.

Oprea also referred to Arsenal Reşiţa, where ammunition is produced and where, according to him, an investor from Great Britain has already come with the equipment. “They will probably start production by the end of the month, at the end of December they will start having the first product and this in a factory where nothing had happened for 20 years”, he said.

The Minister of Economy stressed that it is not the only place where changes are happening. “We already have a project, ROMARM together with three factories within ROMARM, for the production of large-caliber 120-155 ammunition, with a Center of Excellence for Abrams tank ammunition. We should produce, together with our American partners, this ammunition for all of Europe. (…). And that project is working within parameters. There is Dragomireşti there, there is the Plopeni factory there. It is possible that other companies from the national defense industry will also enter into partnership”, Oprea declared.

Regarding the powder factory, another project, with European funding, “that is also a project that is underway and on which we work every day,” said the Minister of Economy.

As for the protest, the Cugir plant employees accuse the Minister of having “taken the hope and future of the Arms Factory and given it to his own liking” to another company, about which the employees from Cugir say that it has no experience.

The employees of the Arms Factory from Cugir say that for almost a year the company has been “living in uncertainty”, and they do not know what the future of the factory will be.

The union leaders say that the employees of the Arms Factory are taught to work, but “are at the mercy of the Government”, because they do not have contracts. “It is not us, the employees, who have to bring contracts and orders, they are paid people, and some of them very well and I am referring here to the Board of Directors”, said Ioan Neagu, one of the union members.

He complained that the members of the Board of Directors “intervened” in the collective labor agreement, after establishing an income of 3000 euros for the special administrator.

In response to the protest, Economy Minister Radu Oprea explained that the Cugir Arms Factory had relied on a single external partner for many years, with Oprea stressing that he had conveyed to the factory that “it is not a wise business decision to have a single client”.

The minister pointed out that the factory had previously received money to modernize a hall and diversify its portfolio, but that the factory managers had not taken steps in this direction, which is why the management was changed.

The minister stated that both the management of the defense industry factories and the parent company Romarm must seek contracts for the defense industry factories.