Culture Minister Raluca Turcan said on Monday that, due to the failure to honour commitments, the Romanian state has to pay debts worth tens of millions of euros to large foreign production companies that have come to film in Romania.

Raluca Turcan participated on Monday at the opening of the conference „Creators’ Rights in the Audiovisual Sector,” organised by the Ministry of Culture, the Office for Film and Cultural Investments and the Romanian Copyright Office (ORDA), in partnership with the Romanian Union of Film and Audiovisual Producers – Romanian Association for the Management of Audiovisual Works (UPFAR-ARGOA), on the occasion of World Intellectual Property Day.

„The cash rebate programme is a financial support scheme for large film investments to be made in Romania, capitalising on the natural or professional Romanian potential. It is a support scheme that all countries in Europe, except Belarus, have and that has existed in Romania but has never been applied. And the consequence was that big production companies from abroad came to film in Romania. The Romanian state did not respect its commitments, they sued the Romanian state, they won in court, we have to pay debts and big companies that feel attracted by Romania’s huge potential are waiting to come and film in Romania. The debts are worth tens of millions of euros,” Turcan said after the opening of the event.

According to her, in Romania the cash rebate scheme „exists on paper since 2018.”

Raluca Turcan believes that these debts are not difficult to pay, however, as the restart of the cash rebate programme could bring investments of over 300 million euros to Romania in 2024.

During the conference, Raluca Turcan announced that the draft cinema law will be soon made transparent.

The event, held in the hall of the Ministry of Culture, saw the participation of manager of the Office of Film and Cultural Investments Ana Mirea, ORDA director general Andrei Ijac, UPFAR-ARGOA director general Viorel Chesaru and specialists from the film industry: producers, actors, directors, writers.

AGERPRES