{"id":116721,"date":"2022-07-12T03:16:23","date_gmt":"2022-07-12T00:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/horeca-skepticism-following-public-consultation-on-action-4-1-1-poc-successor-to-measure-3\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T23:39:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T21:39:54","slug":"horeca-skepticism-following-public-consultation-on-action-4-1-1-poc-successor-to-measure-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/horeca-skepticism-following-public-consultation-on-action-4-1-1-poc-successor-to-measure-3\/","title":{"rendered":"HoReCa Skepticism Following Public Consultation on Action 4.1.1-POC, Successor to Measure 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ministry of Investment and European Projects has announced a public consultation period from June 22, 2022, to July 4, 2022, regarding the Applicant’s Guide<\/a> within the Competitiveness Operational Programme 2014 \u2013 2020, Priority Axis 4 \u2013 Action 4.1.1 Investments in productive activities, which is the successor to Measure 3 launched by the Ministry of Economy, canceled due to a series of issues, transferred, and redesigned.<\/p>\n

Measure 1 of support for firms affected by the pandemic offered EUR 2,000 for SMEs that submitted an application.<\/p>\n

For Measure 2, applications were submitted through the electronic system created for the purpose of providing aid, primarily by consultancy firms familiar with the procedure, while HoReCa firms failed to obtain financial support because funds were exhausted. More than 10,000 firms remained on a waiting list for several months.<\/p>\n

By redesigning Measure 3 under the new name and classification, firms affected by the pandemic were supposed to receive five times the value of their 2019 turnover, not exceeding EUR 1 million, for the purpose of modernization and technology investments, without the possibility of buying or building structures. The danger is that at the end of the consultation period, if significant corrections are not made, firms truly affected by the restrictions imposed by the Government during the pandemic may largely become ineligible to receive investment funds. At the same time, there remains a risk of favoring SMEs with a single employee that did not suffer losses during the restricted periods, such as consultancy firms.<\/p>\n

The Federation of Romanian Tourism Employers (FPTR) has sent objections regarding the scoring for evaluating funding applications and the tie-breaking of projects to obtain financing.<\/p>\n

A maximum of 15 points awarded for the decrease in turnover at the end of 2020 compared to 2019 is considered too low compared to the total score for project evaluation. The score awarded for the decrease in the operating profit rate for the 2020 financial year compared to 2019, taking into account the values of the financial year result due to the COVID crisis, is a maximum of 35 points (awarded for the smallest decrease in the profit rate). A decrease in turnover automatically implies a proportional decrease in the operating profit rate for an activity that truly suffered because of COVID.<\/p>\n

Other issues with the Guide are related to the score awarded according to the profitability rate. This decreases progressively as the profitability rate decreases. FPTR pointed out that a profitability rate of 30% or higher implies speculative activities, with a small number of staff or even no employees, who may have made a profit from the sale of assets and who certainly were not affected by the pandemic. “Certainly, this scoring method for evaluating funding applications must be excluded from the evaluation grid,” FPTR requested. Furthermore, there is not even a score for staff affected by the pandemic.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of European Funds has promised an analysis in this regard.<\/p>\n

Frequently Asked Questions<\/h3>\n

What is Action 4.1.1-POC?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Action 4.1.1-POC is the successor to the former Measure 3, designed to provide funding for productive investments and technological upgrades for SMEs impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Why is the HoReCa sector skeptical about the new funding guide?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sector is concerned that the current scoring criteria favor consultancy firms and businesses with minimal employees over labor-intensive tourism businesses that suffered significant losses.<\/p>\n

What are the main changes requested by the FPTR?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The FPTR is calling for a higher weight for turnover loss in the scoring grid and the removal of profitability criteria that favor speculative businesses or those that sold assets during the pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ministry of Investment and European Projects has announced a public consultation period from June 22, 2022, to July 4, 2022, regarding the Applicant’s Guide within the Competitiveness Operational Programme 2014 \u2013 2020, Priority Axis 4 \u2013 Action 4.1.1 Investments in productive activities, which is the successor to Measure 3 launched by the Ministry of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":90001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2852],"tags":[3196],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-116721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hotels-restaurants","tag-horeca-en"],"article_style_override":"on","post-style":"style2","post_via":"","post-top-image":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/hotelieri-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116721"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=116721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}