​The Monitoring and Evaluation Agency for Public Enterprises – AMEPIP, also known as the super agency that will oversee state-owned companies, began operating on Wednesday. It currently employs 33 staff seconded from other ministries and the SGG, and salaries have been increased by 50% compared to the budget sector. Now the agency is looking for specialists from the private sector, 20 positions will be put up for competition.

The government announced on Wednesday the launch of the Agency for Monitoring and Evaluation of State Enterprises – AMEPIP, an agency that is supposed to monitor the activities of state-owned companies and how they manage state resources.

The operationalization of AMEPIP is a major milestone in the PNRR, on which payment requirement #3 depends, and in the coming period the agency will monitor the start of 40 selection procedures for more than 100 members to the boards of directors of state-owned companies.

The head of AMEPIP has a net salary of approximately 24,000 lei

Mihai Kelin Prekup, President of AMEPIP, said that the agency currently has 33 employees who were selected through secondments and received increased salaries from other ministries and the General Secretariat of the Government based on an interview. At the insistence of the media, he also disclosed details of his income.

• “My salary is, I hope I’m not mistaken, 24,000 lei net, according to the salary scale of the central administration, plus 50% that any official who works for European funds receives, because the operation of AMEPIP depends on Romania receiving 3 billion euros.
• In addition, AMEPIP’s salary was approved by the European Commission and we were recommended to get a higher salary because we work with EU funds and we want to attract the best experts to have a center of excellence from the corporate governance side,” said Mihai Călin Precup.

– I didn’t have time! How the head of AMEPIP explains why all employees came on secondment and with increased salaries from other ministries

• “All employees who are in the agency today came after the interview with the management of AMEPIP. We tried to take the best people from the corporate governance departments of public companies and prioritize quality over name.
• In addition, the Government has approved a further 20 posts for AMEPIP so that we can also bring in specialists from the private sector. Probably in the next few weeks, since we still need an agreement from ANFP, almost 20 positions will be available for anyone who wants them,” Precup said.

He said that all AMEPIP employees have a 50% salary increase compared to other state employees, as well as central and local administration employees who implement projects with European funds, because the AMEPIP operation depends on Romania not losing 3 billion euros from PNRR.

When asked why this agency, which is supposed to monitor management selection procedures in state-owned companies, did not hold competitions for its own employees, Mihai Prekup called it a rush to launch the agency.

• “We managed to get this department up and running in a few months after the approval of the regulatory act. I didn’t have time. (…) We had to put it into effect immediately to have legal consequences.
• All AMEPIP staff have been hired on a secondment basis for a period of 6 months and if they are working at the agency level, they will be transferred to a permanent position within the agency. In addition, we still have 20 positions approved at the government level, which will be put up for competition in the next period, we still need the opinion of the ANFP, because we want to attract experts from the private sector as well,” said Mihai Prekup. .

Tsutsuyanu, a call for employment in the private sector: We need lawyers, economists, not only civil servants

Present at the event, Adrian Tsutsuianu, Deputy Secretary General of the Government, emphasized the need for transparency and professionalism in the recruitment of AMEPIP personnel.

• “Currently, AMEPIP has people who worked in the corporate governance departments of some ministries, respectively, people who worked in the SGG in the departments that dealt with this reform.
• You need to attract lawyers trained in commercial law to the agency, in the capital market you need economists who are good at economic and financial analysis, not just civil servants in the classic sense of the term.
• We need people who have the ability to analyze, interpret and correctly apply the laws, because you are the creators of practice in an extremely sensitive area,” said Adrian Zucianu.

What kind of credibility can AMEPIP convey when its vice president became director of SGG without contest?

Present at the event, Mihai Gihiu, head of the office of Prime Minister Marcel Čolaku, said that “the agency should bring confidence to Romanians that the state is not as weak an administrator as is often said, and confidence that the government, through this agency, can provide transparency in these companies”.

HotNews.ro asked the chairman of AMEPIP what confidence this agency can express when one of its vice-presidents, Victor Moraru, a friend of Marian Neatsu, former head of the General Secretariat of the Government (SGG), ended up serving as a director in the SGG without the support of a contest for the position. controlling all funds from the PNRR budget allocated for SGG reforms and investments.

• “The selection of AMEPIP leadership took place at the level of the Government according to the procedure agreed with the European Commission. The profile of the candidates and the conditions were established by the European Commission and the OECD.
• As far as I know, the selection announcements were published in more than 4-5 local specialized newspapers, there were several candidates and the AMEPIP leadership recruitment process was transparent. As for trust, it comes from the professionalism of the AMEPIP team. Although we are a small professional organization, we have tried to prioritize quality over name,” said Mihai Prekup, President of AMEPIP.

Who are the heads of the agency

The president is Mihai-Kelin Prekup, who received a 4-year mandate in November 2023. Before his appointment, he was State Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office, and in 2022 – State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance. In 2014-2022, he was a lecturer at several universities, including the Sorbonne, France. In addition, he holds a doctorate in economics from the Sorbonne University in Paris. He also studied at the Western University of Timisoara.

In 2020, he ran for senator from the “Pro Romania” party, which is headed by Victor Ponta, reports Europa Liberă.

One of the vice-presidents is Viktor Moraru, the former mayor of the city of Amara in the county of Jalomica in the period 2000-2016. Muraru graduated from university at the age of 35.

In October 2022, Europa Liberă wrote about Victor Morara that he is a friend of Marian Neatzu, the former head of the General Secretariat of the Government (SGG). Thus, he assumed the position of director in the SGG without the support of a competition for the position, controlling all the funds from the PNRR budget allocated for the reforms and investments of the SGG.

The second vice-president is Ciprian Hoxha. He was a State Counselor in the Prime Minister’s Office from May 2021 – during the Florin Sitsu government – to June 2023.

The Agency is subordinate to the Government and coordinated by the Prime Minister through the General Secretariat of the Government.

Salaries are 50% higher than those of other government employees

Salaries are paid in the amount of the maximum level of rights provided for public positions in the Government apparatus, plus 50% to the rest of state employees. In particular, AMEPIP employees are paid 50% more than other public sector employees. Thus, the president will have a gross monthly salary of 38,115 lei, and the vice president – 34,650 lei, Europa Liberă reports.

The Agency’s own revenues will consist of a 30% share related to the applied fines and a monitoring fee of up to 0.1% of the total revenues established by the annual financial statements of state-owned enterprises approved for the previous year, established annually by order of the President of the Agency .

Through AMEPIP attributions:

• participation in procedures for selection of administrative or supervisory boards of state-owned enterprises;
• monitoring and evaluation of performance indicators achieved by state-owned enterprises;
• consultations on corporate management; analyzes and reports on various state-owned enterprises or economic spheres in which state-owned enterprises operate; periodicals in which the portfolio of state-owned enterprises of the state is presented;
• professional training courses intended for employees of state enterprises or state guardianship bodies.

The founding law states that AMEPIP can impose sanctions on state enterprises, state guardianship bodies and individuals guilty of dishonestly failing to meet performance indicators.

• Read: The super agency, which will monitor the efficiency of state-owned companies, is born with difficulty: it is not yet operational and does not have a third of its employees