Foreign investors are pulling out of Romania because of the failures of the Bolojan government and President Nicușor Dan, according to sovereignist propaganda.
NEWS: Haier, the Chinese giant in the household appliances industry, is selling its factory in Ploiești, an investment of over €70 million.
The company's decision is a wake-up call for the entire Romanian economy, which is suffering from a lack of vision, bureaucracy, and political instability.
The government led by Ilie Bolojan and Nicușor Dan's Presidential Administration are accused of incompetence in protecting industrial investments. [...]
Business sources claim that Haier's decision was driven by fiscal instability, sudden legislative changes, and stifling bureaucracy, factors that have made Romania an increasingly risky destination for foreign investors.
NARRATIVE: Foreign investors are withdrawing from Romania due to the incompetence of the current regime in Bucharest.
PURPOSE: To promote the sovereignist discourse, to undermine confidence in state authorities, to provoke and amplify social tensions, and validate their own conspiracy theories.
Haier announced its withdrawal from Romania at the beginning of the year.
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: More concerned with identifying mistakes in the decisions of the current governing coalition than with providing concrete solutions to the problems facing Romania, the sovereignists have no hesitation in inventing reasons why "the Bolojan regime must go."
A quick search through this year's press archives shows very clearly that the decision to withdraw from Romania was made by the Chinese company Haier long before Nicușor Dan became president and Ilie Bolojan became prime minister. Thus, in January 2025, the Prahova County Employment Agency announced that it had been notified by the Chinese company that the factory in Ariceştii Rahtivani would be closed and that the nearly 500 employees would be laid off in several stages until the summer of this year. In explaining the decision, company representatives cited "the global economic situation," without making any reference to the situation in Romania.
In fact, in the same month, the parent company, Haier Europe, presented a business transformation plan to streamline its production activities in Europe. The plan called for consolidating the company's capabilities in a few large, strategically located sites and conducting an in-depth analysis of costs and procedures to achieve a major increase in operational efficiency. This meant that production activities were halted not only at the factory in Romania, but also at the company's factory in Brugherio, Italy, where its headquarters are located.
The Haier factory in Romania has therefore been closed since the summer, following a plan that was most likely drawn up last year. This month, the company only decided to sell the entire production facility , which it still owns but which is not operational. Basically, at this point, the Chinese are no longer investors, but only owners of properties in Prahova County that they want to sell.
Another argument that large foreign companies have absolutely no problem investing in Romania is the decision by Zalakerámia, a giant specializing in the production of ceramic tiles for interior design, to move its entire production from Hungary to our country. The company has already begun to decommission its factory in Romhány and transfer all its technology to Cluj-Napoca, where the company's future production center will operate. Heavily affected by rising energy and labor costs, as well as certain measures taken by the Hungarian government, the company has decided to halt production in Hungary and move its operations to Romania, where the construction industry is booming and demand for its products is growing.
Furthermore, this month, the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall signed a contract to invest over 400 million Euro and create around 700 new jobs at a factory in Victoria, Brașov County.
In conclusion, Haier's decision to withdraw from the Romanian market is not related to recent tax changes in Romania, but to the desire to focus on other markets and to reorganize the company efficiently. Our country is not the only one to have resorted to tax changes recently, other countries have done it too, and companies are facing problems everywhere, not just here.
Retroactively guilty
CONTEXT: Although the presidential elections are over, and the winner has long been validated by parliament, Romanian sovereignists are continuing their election campaign, seemingly attempting to trigger early elections and manipulating public opinion through a veritable assault of disinformation, peppered with insinuations and personal considerations with no real basis.
In fact, Romanian authorities are currently battling an intense disinformation campaign promoted by the sovereigntist spectrum, aimed at influencing public opinion in Romania. Moreover , a study on the phenomenon of disinformation in Romania, conducted by disinfo.eu, shows that the "sovereignist" movement is the main force behind disinformation in Romania. Since the beginning of the year, Ilie Bolojan has been falsely accused of reducing the number of days off and doubling the cost of energy, while President Nicuşor Dan is accused of forcing young people to join the army and not doing enough to ensure that Romania receives compensation for its support to Ukraine.
In their argumentation, the sovereignists also rely on the news that has recently circulated in the local media, that the giant Carrefour is about to leave the Romanian market. Although not yet confirmed by the French company, which has issued a rather vague statement on the matter, the move is part of a broader international strategy, as in the case of Haier. This summer, Carrefour sold its subsidiary in Italy, where the French retailer had 1,188 stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets, and convenience stores, and now its assets and operations in Poland (a model of sovereignty for Romanian patriots) and Argentina are also up for sale.
However, what is surprising (once again!) about the Romanian sovereignists is the way they relate to the "liberation" of the country from the "yoke" of foreign capital—they are now complaining about the departure of a company, even though their leader, the pro-Russian Călin Georgescu, is insisting on the "Romanianization" of capital and a return to the "horse industry" and the "natural laws of history." Normally, the departure of players such as Haier or Carrefour from Romania is a great opportunity for local investors to consolidate their businesses, bringing progress and prosperity to the entire population.
---copie-image.webp)
