ROMANIA’S PREMIER BUSINESS WEEKLY APRIL 7 - 13, 2014 / VOLUME 18, NUMBER 12
FOCUS CLOUD COMPUTING: Organizations are becomingmore receptive to the advantages of cloud technology,though the public sector is still trailing behind, industry experts told Business Review »page 8
Tax & Law
THE NEW INSOLVENCY CODE AND THE REVISION OF THE FISCAL CODE CAME UNDER DEBATE AT LAST WEEK’S TAX & LAWCONFERENCE ORGANIZED BY BUSINESS REVIEW»PAGE 6
NEWS
Food to waste?Romania’s rate of foodwaste is higher thanthe European averageof 179 kg per capita peryear, said the agricul-ture minister » page 4
Misu Negritoiu willbecome FinancialSupervision Authoritypresident, tasked withoverhauling theactivity of theregulatory body, whichhas been rocked bycharges of corruption»page 5
ASF RELOADED
NEW S 3www.business-review.eu Business Review | April 7 - 13, 2014
NEWS in briefNEW S 3
BANKINGRaiffeisen profit up 16 pct lastyearRaiffeisen Bank International’s post-tax profit in Romania rose 15.8 percent year-on-year, from EUR86 million in 2012 to EUR 100 millionlast year, as a result of lower paymentsin the profit tax account.
Earnings before tax increased by3.1 percent to EUR 101 million. Opera-tional income was up 1.7 percent overthe interval, from EUR 458 million toEUR 465 million.
Net income received through in-terest was down 7.2 percent to EUR281 million, while revenue from feesand commissions climbed 18 percentto EUR 168 million. Net income fromtransactions increased 50.8 percent,to EUR 14 million.
ENERGYGabriel Resources axes 367 local jobs over Rosia MontanadelaysRosia Montana Gold Corporation(RMGC), the miner controlled by Cana-da-based Gabriel Resources, said lastweek it was cutting jobs and scrappinglocal assistance programs as it soughtto scale back operations in responseto what it described as the “unjustifi-ably long delays” in the approval ofthe gold and silver mining project atRosia Montana.
The company said that 1,000 fam-ilies would lose their source of incomefollowing the move.
Aside from the 367 workers who were directly employed by RMGC,more than 100 jobs through social programs financed by RMGC would go due to the scale-back program, saidthe firm.
INSURANCEGothaer’s gross written premiums up 75 percent to EUR 15 mln in 2013Gothaer Asigurari Reasigurari, the insurer controlled by Germany’sGothaer Group, said its gross writtenpremiums had risen by 75 percent to around EUR 15 million in 2013, while its number of customers doubledto over 52,000 against the previousyear.
The biggest shares in its portfoliowere held by the property and engi-neering line, with 42 percent, andCASCO, with 30 percent.
MEDIABortun Olteanu merges withPeople Public Relations AgencyBortun Olteanu and People Public Re-lations Agency have announced theirmerger, forming Daescu Bortun Olteanu.Over the past fiscal year, the two agenciesposted a total turnover of more thanRON 6 million.
The combined portfolio of the twoagencies includes clients such as Gillette,Duracell, Adidas, Siveco, Wellborn,Baneasa Developments, Philips, AOC,Subway, E-Boda, King, Logitech, Glen-fiddich, The Pole and Rombat, The In-stitute and the Civil Society Gala.
PROPERTYAustrian S+B Gruppe to buildEUR 17.5 mln hotel next toOtopeni airportAustrian developer S+B Gruppe is plan-ning to start the construction of a 250-room hotel next to the Henri Coanda(Otopeni) airport in Bucharest by theend of this year or in early 2015, after fi-nally obtaining the necessary buildingpermit, said Alfred Michael Beck, oneof the company’s shareholders, last week.The project will require an investment
of around EUR 17.5 million. The hotelwill be built on a 40,000 sqm plot ofland which the company acquired in2004 for an estimated EUR 2.5 million.
RETAILCarrefour to launch Supeco discount format in RomaniaFrench retailer Carrefour is hiring storemanagers for the new Supeco stores itwill open in Romania, according to a re-cruitment ad on bestjobs.com. The firstthree branches will be opened in Giurgiu,Ramnicu Valcea and Targoviste. The Su-peco retail brand is so far only presentin Spain, where it was launched lastyear, according to Mediafax.
Newly launched Revicare aimsfor EUR 10 mln in sales this yearThe producer of Revicare, a new cos-metics brand launched last week inBucharest, wants to reach sales of EUR10 million this year by opening severalstores in Romania and starting exportsto Spain, the Canary Islands, Greece,Turkey and India, said the company.
The first Revicare shop was openedlast week in Bucharest’s Old Center andthe company’s two owners – Rohit Ahuja,an Indian businessman who has beenin Romania for about six years, and San-dra Popescu – want to open more units
by the end of the year, both in Romaniaand abroad.
TELECOMVodafone boosts 4G speeds,launches new mobile paymentserviceVodafone Romania has announced newinvestments into growing the coverageand speed of its 4G network from 100Mbps to 150 Mbps at national level, oncethe company comes into the possessionof the license it won in the September2012 tender, in the coming days.
The company announced it wouldimmediately raise its 4G speed from 100Mbps to 150 Mbps. In the new fiscalyear April 2014-March 2015, it will in-crease the number of 4G sites to cover70 percent of the urban population.
The company has also launched anew service on the market, M-Pesa,which allows customers to make and receive payments via mobile phone without the need for a bank account.
Orange expands 4G network to90 cities, starts 4G+ testsOrange Romania has announced that itwill be expanding its 4G telecom networkto reach 90 towns and cities, representingover 45 percent of the country’s popu-lation. The operator will also be testinga 4G+ network in six cities. The latterwill allow data transfers at speeds of upto 300 Mbps, with the network equip-ment to be supplied by Huawei, accord-ing to Mediafax newswire.
Starting April 7, Orange will expandthe 4G network to cover more than 45percent of the national population.
All the presidents: celebrating ten years in NATOPresident Traian Basescu and two of his predecessors Ion Iliescu (far left)and Emil Constantinescu (right) attended a ceremony organized last week atthe Cotroceni Palace to mark the ten-year anniversary of Romania’s joiningNATO. Declining an invitation to attend the ceremony, the prime minister,Victor Ponta, said it was “Basescu’s party and has nothing to do with NATO,”according to Hotnews.ro. Also present at the event, US charge d’affairesDuane Butcher commented, “Romania has strengthened the alliance im-measurably since it joined in 2004. You’ve steadfastly and repeatedlycontributed to NATO operations, crisis management, and to transatlanticsecurity.”
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4 Romanian high-school studentswin top positions at NASA contest
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Agerpres
4 NEWSwww.business-review.eu
Business Review | April 7 - 13, 2014
AGRICULTURE
Bucharest FAO conferencewarns about food waste,talks up family farming
About 179 kg of food per capitais wasted every year in Europeand Romania’s average is above
this level, said Daniel Constantin,deputy prime minister and agricultureminister, last week. He made his com-ments as Bucharest hosted the 29thFood and Agriculture Organization(FAO) European Regional Conference(ERC) and the 38th session of the Eu-ropean Commission on Agriculture(ECA).
Food waste and promoting familyfarming as a solution for food securityworldwide were two of the main topicsdiscussed during the events. “Foodwaste is not an abstract concept but aphenomenon that affects us all. Wesee it taking place everywhere thereis food – in stores, in restaurants, inour own homes, in schools, in farmsand even during the transport of foodproducts,” said Constantin. House-holds are responsible for 42 percentof the food waste in the EU, producersfor 39 percent, retailers for 5 percentand catering for 14 percent, accordingto EU research.
Addressing the matter would re-duce pressure on production, espe-cially in the context of food shortagesand rising food prices, and would also
benefit the environment, he added.Drawing attention to this matter iseven more important considering thatabout 60 percent of today’s food wastecould be eliminated through educationand technology, said the minister. Headmitted that in Romania the matteris seldom discussed but that the au-thorities are planning to find out thereal extent of the problem.
Over 1.3 billion tonnes of food arewasted worldwide every year, accord-ing to FAO data. This represents awhopping third of the food producedfor human consumption and USD 750billion in costs. At the same time, 842million people suffer from hunger,malnutrition and food insecurity. Sim-ilar quantities are wasted in industri-alized and less industrialized countriesalike, although in the case of low-in-come countries, much less food iswasted at the consumer level.
The FAO believes that if food lossesand waste could be halved, the re-quired increase of available food tofeed the world population by 2050would only need to be 25 percent,rather than 60 percent according torecent projections. Given the natureand causes of the phenomenon, halving food losses and waste is a
feasible target, according to the FAO.Family farms are a solution to fight-
ing food loss and waste, especially inemerging countries, believes Constan-tin. “It is proven that family farmscan meet the challenges related tofood shortages and the underdevel-opment of rural areas and at the sametime they can be encouraged to prac-tice sustainable farming, thus achiev-ing the goal of integrated and sustain-able development,” he said.
Romania’s National Rural Devel-opment Program (NRDP) for the 2007-2013 period has benefitted 60,000small farms and the NPRD 2014-2020will also feature measures dedicatedto small farms, said Constantin.
The United Nations has declared2014 the “International Year of FamilyFarming” as a means to promote in-ternational awareness and help eachcountry to come up with plans aimedat strengthening the contribution offamily farms to eradicating hungerand reducing rural poverty.
The 29th FAO ERC and the 38thsession of the ECA brought around350 delegates from 55 countries toBucharest. Romania last hosted anFAO event in 1976. ∫
Simona Bazavan
WEEK AHEAD
April 7
Eurosfat 2014 Bringing together high-ranking Euro-pean officials and candidates at theEuro-parliamentary elections withrepresentatives of the business com-munity and civil society, the Eurosfatconference is a forum to debate poli-cies and put forward suggestions.The European Institute for Participa-tive Democracy Quorum, is behindthe event, which will tackle hot topics such as Romania’s Schengen integration, labor force mobility andthe ins and outs of the European elec-toral process. Log on to theeurosfat.eu website for more infor-mation.People’s Palace, 08:00,www.eurosfat.eu
April 8
E.ON RomaniaA member of E.ON Group, will an-nounce its 2013 financial results andlong-term plans.
April 10
Innovate Now ConferenceIs a one-day open-enrollment confer-ence designed for the Romanianmarket. The event will give a local au-dience a chance to meet and listen toSteve Shapiro, one of the foremostauthorities on innovation culture andbusiness practices.
Other speakers will join Shapirofor a day of interactive discussion anddebate, with a practical focus on busi-ness issues in the broader context oflarge-scale, global trends. More in-formation on how to register is avail-able on the innovatenow.ro website.Crowne Plaza Hotel Bucharest, 08.00
April 10-13
Construct Expo The 21st edition of Construct Expo,the international trade fair for con-struction technologies, equipmentand materials, will take place atRomexpo Exhibition Centre. Con-struct Expo brings together industryprofessionals, giving them the oppor-tunity to become part of a networkand share experience.
April 11
Upcoming legislationLaw no. 17/2014 regulating the saleand purchase of land outside city lim-its, amending law no. 268/2001 on theprivatization of companies managingagricultural land in public and privateownership, will come into effect today,30 days after it was published in theOfficial Gazette. The law grants any-body, including foreign citizens, theright to acquire agricultural land, butcertain categories have priority (co-owners, tenants, neighbors and theRomanian state).
Waste not, want not: over 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted around the world every year, says the FAO
Agerpres
NEWS 5www.business-review.euBusiness Review | April 7 - 13, 2014
FINANCE
Negritoiu takes helm at beleaguered ASF
Negritoiu’s appointment comes againstthe backdrop of a fully fledged scandalthat has engulfed the ASF in the lastthree months, culminating with itsformer president Dan Radu Rusanubeing taken into custody on corruptioncharges.
The regulator was also involved in controversy over the disproportion-ate pay of its nine board members.The budget-finance special committeein Senate held a hearing last month over the excessive wages atthe ASF.
Daniel Daianu, who became theauthority’s interim president on February 25, following Rusanu’s arrest, said during the hearing that he would reduce his monthly wage of EUR 12,800 by 30 percent,and apologized to the public for thescandal.
Negritoiu, who has spent the last17 years at Dutch lender ING, said dur-ing last week’s Parliamentary hearingsthat the main issue at the ASF wasnot the level of the wages, but thefact they did not reflect the perform-ance of the employees.
“We have to strengthen the super-vision and control functions, to assure people that they have public confidence and that they areprotected. Over 10 million consumersare connected to this market, not only through RCA (e.n. mandatory car insurance),” said Negritoiu, quoted
by Mediafax newswire.“The institution has to be rebuilt
and reprofessionalized. This is what Ipledge and I plan to do it. I need time.Of course we have to repair its image,”added Negritoiu, who will assume hisrole at the ASF on May 1. Parliamentalso approved the appointment of Vic-tor Ciorbea, who served as prime min-ister from 1996-1998, as nonexecutivemember on the ASF board.
Negritoiu was asked if he had collaborated with Ceausescu’s infa-mous secret police (known as Securi-tatea) during Romania’s communistperiod.
“Regarding collaboration with the Securitatea, I remember 20 yearsago, when I was in Parliament (…) Today it is easy to verify these things. I was not (e.n. a collaborator)and I can tell you one more time ifyou want. I can hand you some inter-views I gave 20 years ago,” Negritoiutold MPs.
MPs also asked Negritoiu if he hadbeen involved in transactionsprocessed by ING Bank with banks inCuba and Iran. ING paid USD 619 mil-lion to settle this probe in June 2012.Some US dollar transactions were car-ried out through ING’s offices in Franceand Romania, according to Bloombergnewswire.
Negritoiu said the only transactionwas carried out before his mandateand that he had been tasked with ver-ifying these issues. The ASF beganoperating in April 2013, following themerger of the bodies that regulatedthe stock exchange, insurance and theprivate pensions market.
“The main challenge in the comingperiod is to reestablish a climate oftrust in the insurance market and itsregulator. Such confidence, oncegained, will lead to an increased aware-ness of the role and importance of in-surance as a financial protection tool,”Florentina Almajanu, general managerof the National Union of InsuranceCompanies in Romania (UNSAR), told BR. She added that the associationwill fully support the ASF in this role.
Ludwik Sobolewski, CEO of theBucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), de-clined to comment on Negritoiu’s ap-pointment.
The ASF has flexed its muscles thisyear in two separate investigations onthe capital market and insurance sector.It sent Romania’s biggest insurer Astrainto special administration, claimingit was under-reserved and could notpay claims in the event of a naturaldisaster.
The regulator also handed down afine of RON 313, 850 to Harinvest bro-kerage and rescinded its license afterclients found out their money haddisappeared. Several employees werebarred from trading on the capitalmarket. ∫
Ovidiu Posirca
September 2012 – April 2014
chairman, ING Bank RomaniaJanuary 2010 – September 2012 CEO,ING Bank RomaniaAugust 2006 – January 2010 generalmanager, ING Wholesale Banking Romania1996 – 1997 MP1994 – 1996 chief economic adviser toPresident Ion Iliescu1973 – 1978 economist ILEXIM, Foreign Trade Company
CV Misu Negritoiu
ASF CouncilMisu Negritoiu – presidentDaniel Daianu – first
vice-presidentMircea Ursache – vice-presidentCorneliu Moldoveanu – vice-
presidentIon Giurescu – vice-presidentGheorghe Marcu – non-executive
memberAlbin Biro – non-executive
memberMarian Sarbu – non-executive
memberVictor Ciorbea – non-executive
member
Increasing the confidence that local consumers of financial products have in the strength of the Financial Super-vision Authority (ASF) is the main priority of Misu Negritoiu, who was approved by Parliament as the new presi-dent of the regulator last week.
6 www.business-review.euBusiness Review | April 7 - 13, 2014
The rewritten Fiscal Code should be submitted to Parliament for the final vote this summer, while the new Insol-vency Code will undergo the same treatment in less than one month, said officials during the 13th Tax&Lawconference, organized last week by Business Review.
Romania aims to pass key taxand insolvency bills this year
1
∫ OVIDIU POSIRCA
Dan Manolescu, state secretary at theMinistry of Finance, said that certainprovisions regarding income tax are stillunder discussion, along with othermeasures on specific income, and onthe fiscal framework regarding thestock exchange. “In terms of local taxes,we are planning to restructure the taxon buildings, depending on the use ofthe building. We will have further dis-cussions to clarify it and we hope it willgo before Parliament in May or June,”said Manolescu
“The rewriting means we will have anew document with another structureand from this point of view we havetried to rearrange a little the titles in theFiscal Code and the way in which theyare correlated. We have direct taxes inone place, and the same for indirecttaxes. The income side is connected tocontributions,” added Manolescu.
Changes in VATAmong the recent fiscal changes in-tended to help the business environ-ment, he named the rollout oflegislation for holdings in the Fiscal
Code starting this year and the changein the fiscal year based on the account-ing year. “The decision to move the fis-cal year closer to the accounting yearwill make accountants’ and inspectors’work easier. We aim to change the pro-visions so that all companies can choosea different accounting year from the cal-endar year,” said Manolescu.
Mariana Vizoli, deputy general man-ager of the directorate of VAT legislationand customs regulations at the Ministryof Finance, outlined the main changesin VAT that were enforced this year. Thisincludes the implementation of the op-tional VAT cash accounting system andthe extension of situations in whichVAT adjustments are not carried out forgoods that were destroyed, lost orstolen.
On the topic of VAT, Delia Catarama,tax partner at Viboal FindEx, a tax con-sultancy, outlined cases in which ad-vanced invoicing was considered by taxauthority ANAF as a loan, meaning thatthe company that received the invoiceswas not allowed to deduct VAT.
Experts tip Romania to become holding destinationManolescu of the Ministry of Finance
suggested that the rollout of new provi-sions for holding companies in the Fis-cal Code will create the opportunity forlocal entrepreneurs to reorganize theirbusinesses and bring back some struc-tures to Romania from other destina-tions. “For the first in Romania we haveprovisions regarding holdings that canbe used locally,” said Florin Gherghel,head of the tax department at Noerr Fi-nance & Tax. Under the new rules, a Ro-manian company will not levy profit taxon revenues from the sale or assign-ment of participation titles held by a Ro-manian or foreign company located in astate that has signed a double taxationavoidance treaty with Romania. How-ever, the first company needs to holdfor an uninterrupted period of one yeara minimum of 10 percent of the sharecapital of the company in which it holdsthe participation titles. The same goesfor revenues generated from the disso-lution of another Romanian or foreigncompany or for dividends receivedfrom a Romanian/foreign company(from a non-EU country that has con-cluded a double taxation avoidanceagreement with Romania).
Authorities have also eased condi-tions for exempting dividends from an
EU subsidiary from profit tax, with therequired period of a 10 percent share-holding quota dropping from two yearsto one. In addition, one of the condi-tions which a EU company has to fulfillin order not to pay dividend tax on div-idends received from a Romanian com-pany has been relaxed, namely theperiod for a 10 percent shareholding hasdropped from two years to one.
Emilia Moise, head of the tax depart-ment at Grant Thornton Romania, theaccounting firm, said during a work-shop following the conference that Ro-mania could become an alternative toCyprus and the Netherlands as afriendly destination for holdings.
ANAF has also started to increaseaudits for transfer prices, according toAdrian Luca, director at Transfer PricingServices.
“The new principle in the field oftransfer pricing is that profits have to betaxed where valued is created,” saidLuca. He also chaired a workshop ontransfer pricing solutions for fiscal pro-tection following the conference.
Companies that do not have transferpricing files will be fined up to EUR3,000 and if the file is not done propertythe firm risks readjustments for trans-
7www.business-review.euBusiness Review | April 7 - 13, 2014
1. Panelists discuss the fiscal changes rolled out in 2014 2. A speaker outlines per-spectives on transfer pricing during a specialized workshop 3. Attendees of theworkshop on fiscal updates 4. Dan Manolescu, Ministry of Finance 5. Emilia Moise,Grant Thornton Romania 6. Adrian Luca, Transfer Pricing Services 7. Andreea
Deli, Deli & Asociatii 8. Nadia Oanea, Baker Tilly 9. Florin Gherghel, Noerr Fi-nance & Tax 10. Luisiana Dobrinescu, Dobrinescu Dobrev 11. Cristina Saulescu,PKF Finconta 12. Delia Catarama, Viboal FindEx 13. Simona Milos, INPPI 14. Stan
Tirnoveanu, ZRP Insolvency 15. Diana Rizea, Noerr
4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15
All photos: Mihai C
onstantineanu
2 3
actions which can be in the tens of mil-lions of euros. Essentially, on transferprices the ANAF wants to make surethat prices for transactions betweenconnected companies are in line withindustry averages so they do not reducetheir taxable profits.
Cristina Saulescu, senior tax consult-ant at PKF Finconta, the tax consultancy,outlined the main European rules cov-ering aggressive fiscal planning and themeasures taken by Romania to dealwith it. She recommended companiesrevise contracts, especially those withinthe group, and scrap circular transac-tions, self-cancelling and self-compen-sating transactions, to avoid these beingdeemed aggressive fiscal planning byauthorities.
Nadia Oanea, tax advisory depart-ment coordinator at Baker Tilly, pre-sented the ways in which businessescan be structured more efficiently. Shetouched on the operational advantagesof business restructuring along with thesmart solutions for cash flow manage-ment and cutting financing costs, in-cluding cash polling and the flexiblemanagement of investments throughholding structures.
Controversial provisions innew Insolvency CodeGovernment emergency ordinance no91/2013, which approved the adoptionof the New Insolvency Code, containsprovisions that hinder companies’ re-covery from insolvency, noted SimonaMilos, president of the National Insti-tute for the Training of Insolvency Prac-titioners (INPPI) and one of the authorsof the new code.
The member of the consortium saidit was unable to dispossess the tax au-thority ANAF of priority in the distribu-tion of funds from insolvency, althoughthis was the recommendation of theIMF and the World Bank.
“At a European level there are fewcountries that prioritize budgetary re-ceivables when it comes to insolvency.There are a few exceptions related tolabor reports, social security, pension
insurance – for social purposes,” saidMilos.
“We are among the few countries thatencourage the tax authority to sleepand accumulate huge debts and penal-ties that cannot be recovered in an in-solvency procedure, but instead we areblaming the low rate of recovery on theinsolvency practitioner, who is notdoing enough.”
Milos expressed her hope that thenew Insolvency Code would be passedby Parliament in a month, adding thatlast week the Chamber of Deputies wasdebating the ordinance approving thecode. Under the new code, the durationof the reorganization plan has been re-duced from three years to one, with theoption of extending it by 12 months.Milos said this facilitates filing for bank-ruptcy and bars the debtor from repay-ing historic debts.
Furthermore, the reorganizationplan will have to be passed by creditorsholding 50 percent of the total receiv-ables, from a previous proposal of 30percent. Milos of the INPPI said thiswould allow the biggest creditor todominate the receivables table andmakes the voting based on categories ofreceivables useless.
Another provision impacting thenew Insolvency Code is the introduc-tion of the possibility of foreclosure for holders of current receivables,which could generate a series of con-flicts between previous and currentcreditors or between current creditorsgranting financing and other currentcreditors. “In the new code we also findprovisions regarding group insolvency,which is an attempt to regulate this as-pect,” said Professor Radu Bufan, PhD,of the INPPI.
Andreea Deli, partner at law firmDeli&Asociatii, described the approachto the budgetary receivables in the NewInsolvency Code, adding that around200,000 firms go into administrationacross Europe each year. In Romania,the figure stands at 35,000.
Financing opportunities for compa-nies going through insolvency will be
improved under the New InsolvencyCode, said Stan Tirnoveanu, co-manag-ing partner at ZRP Insolvency, who pre-sented the provisions that couldstreamline the procedure.
“Most of the new elements aim tostreamline the procedure by unfreezingassets, ensuring financing, increasingpredictability and imposing standardsregarding the activity of the insolvencypractitioner,” said Tirnoveanu.
Luisiana Dobrinescu, lawyer at Do-brinescu&Dobrev, outlined the recentchanges in the fiscal procedure normsand the actions that can be taken to pre-vent fraud by debtors that damages
creditors, in the first three years sincethe start of the insolvency procedure.
On cross-border insolvency the newcode does not bring significant changes,according to Diana Rizea, senior associ-ate at Noerr. She outlined provisions inEU regulations that allow the opening ofthe main insolvency procedure in themember state where the debtor has itsprinciple place of business and of a sec-ondary provision in the member stateswhere the debtor has a headquarters,without previous recognition of themain procedure.
8 FOCUS CLOUD COMPUTING www.business-review.euBusiness Review | April 7 - 13, 2014
∫ OTILIA HARAGA
Cloud adoption forecast in Romania The local cloud computing market isforecast to reach EUR 150 million in2017, with annual growth of an esti-mated 30 percent, while the globalmarket is predicted to surpass EUR150 billion in 2016, with annualgrowth of 15-18 percent, BogdanBalaci, CEO of Ymens, tells BR.
One trend he identifies has beendubbed “the birthplace of value-added services”, meaning the adja-cent services that complementbusiness solutions used in the cloud.
He also notes that companies areno longer interested in using onlySoftware as a Service (SaaS), but alsoplatforms (PaaS) and infrastructure asa service (IaaS), which leads to a newIT consumption model named XaaS,or Anything as a Service.
There is a gap between the Roman-ian and Western markets, ValentinTomsa, GM of SAP Romania, tells BR.However, he believes this could be-come an advantage for Romania be-cause local firms are much more opento adopting new service and technol-ogy models without being restrainedby the need to recover previous IT in-vestments.
He says that the cloud servicesthat are most in demand locally arethose dedicated to HR management.
“At the moment, all major cloud so-lutions are provided by companies inthe United States, of which the largestare the Amazon and Microsoft clouds.Romania is a consumer of these solu-tions, and there are numerous localsoftware companies developing forthem. In terms of revenues fromcloud computing services, Romania isa small player both at global and re-gional level. We do not have data forthe Amazon cloud, but as far as Mi-crosoft Azure is concerned, Romaniaonly just makes it into the top ten forEastern Europe, after countries suchas Russia, Poland, the Czech Republicand Hungary,” Alexandru Lapusan,CEO and co-founder of Zitec, tells BR.
Public sector lags behind incloud adoptionThe public sector continues to playcatch-up in cloud adoption, agreemost experts.
“State institutions in Romania haveinvested and are investing massivelyin hardware and infrastructure, inprojects that are parallel with cloud.
Public cloud solutions are definitelyout of the question due to speciallegal requirements that state institu-tions must comply with when they use applications storing data. Of course, private cloud or hybridcloud solutions could be possible.Discussions are probably ongoingwith cloud providers and it remains
to be seen how they will turn out,”Adrian Blidarus, managing partner atSoftelligence, tells BR.
Razvan Stoica of GTS Telecomquotes the European Agency for Network and Information Security(ENISA) which described Romania as “hesitant” in the public cloud area.
Cloud computing -the next commodityTalk of the cloud has started to travel higher up the hierarchy in companies hoping to use it as a springboard toinnovation. However, in the public sector, the transition to cloud is a different kettle of fish, as the legislation isincomplete and outdated. The EU is taking steps to ensure legal unity and solve the data privacy issues that areclogging the decision-making process.
Adrian Blidarus, managing partner at Softelligence
Nicoleta Boaru, corporate services manager at Accace
Alexandru Lapusan, CEO at Zitec
Valentin Tomsa, GM at SAP Romania
Bogdan Balaci, CEO at Ymens
Marcin Grygielski, territory managerEastern Europe, Interactive Intelligence
Courtesy of Softelligence
Courtesy of Accace
Courtesy of Zitec
Courtesy of SAP
Rom
ania
Courtesy of Interactive Intelligence
Courtesy of Ym
ens
CLOUD COMPUTING FOCUS 9www.business-review.euBusiness Review | April 7 - 13, 2014
However, things are slowly starting to move in a new direction.Stoica tells BR that a tender was re-cently launched and the ICI (NationalInstitute for Research and Develop-ment in Informatics) will build a cloudplatform for government agencies,which will be financed from EU funds.
Lapusan mentions another cloudimplementation in the public sector,which benefitted the Ministry of Edu-cation. “The website listing high-school admission results wasmigrated onto the Microsoft (Win-dows Azure) cloud in 2011. This wasthe first year in which the website wasavailable and it worked well, also inhigh-traffic periods, for the publica-tion of results,” says Lapusan.
On a wider scale, cloud solutionsfor the public sector are becoming avery hot topic in 2014. Balaci says thatin the UK such solutions are knownunder the name of G-Cloud.
In Romania, only a few public insti-tutions have decided to use cloud so-lutions.
Balaci explains that G-Cloudmeans that the usage of pre-definedbasic services (like unified communi-cation, document management,budgetary execution) on a cloud plat-form is regulated and imposed as themain procurement model, in order toensure financial sustainability, inte-gration and to address the lack of spe-cialized human resources in the field.
“There are two main factors for suc-cess. Firstly, there is the eligibility ofcloud projects for EU funding over the2014-2020 financing period. Secondly,there is a need for market regulationin order to have certified G-cloud pri-vate operators,” says Balaci.
Personal data privacy issuesyet to be addressed
“The lack of transparency in the chainof outsourcing/subcontracting theprocessing of personal data by thecloud provider, the lack of a commonglobal framework of data portabilityand the uncertainty regarding how ad-missible it is to transfer personal datato cloud computing providers outsideSEE are probably the risks that thestate, as a potential user of cloud serv-ices, is exposed to, and is not willingto run, at least under the current legalframework,” Nicoleta Boaru, corpo-rate services manager at Accace, tellsBR.
Players face a series of security is-sues regarding the processing and storage of personal data. Whilethe national legal framework is defi-cient, efforts are being made at Euro-pean level to address this issue, Boaruadds.
The EU intends shortly to adopt alegal framework protecting individu-als’ personal data processing and freecirculation, she notes. “The currentform prefigures the setting up of an
authority for monitoring personaldata at EU level, as well as significantfines when the personal data protec-tion regime is not respected. Onceadopted, the framework will be ap-plied directly in EU member states,”says Boaru.
The best example of the lack oftransparency that Accace cites iswhen the cloud provider subcontractsto third parties a series of services in-volving the processing of personaldata. “In this situation, the easiestway to ensure user protection wouldbe to impose through this frameworkthe introduction of contractual stipu-lations to ensure that these processingservices are subcontracted only withuser agreement,” says the manager.
According to Boaru, in Romania,personal data processing and free cir-culation fall under Law 677/2001,which does not expressly refer tocloud services. The law applies to op-erators with local offices, Romaniandiplomatic missions/consulates, andoperators that are not established inRomania but use any type of resourceson its territory.
She points out that the fundamen-tal principles of the EU legislation ondata protection have been transposedin Law 677/2001, which also sets thepenalties for breaking the law. Finesfor breaking the law can vary betweenRON 500 and RON 50,000. The Na-tional Supervisory Authority for Per-
sonal Data Processing is the institu-tion in charge of identifying breachesand applying the penalties, says Boaru.
“The main challenge is that from thelegal viewpoint, with personal data,the procedure to license an operatorrequires licensing the entire chain –the entity that works with the client(bank or insurance company), theprovider of the solution and the host-ing provider. On top of this, certain in-formation can only be taken out ofRomania with prior notification of thestate, which slows down and discour-ages the adoption of cloud-based so-lutions in these industries. What’smore, European regulations forbid thetransfer of data to embargoed coun-tries or countries that do not have asafe harbor agreement with the EU,which can become relatively difficultto control,” explains Blidarus.
Cloud paves the way for newtype of organizationThe CFO’s say in a company’s adop-tion of new technologies is increas-ingly important. CFOs are choosingcloud solutions to modernize their or-ganizations’ processes, according toEmpowering Modern Finance – TheCFO as Technology Evangelist, aglobal survey carried out by Oracleand Accenture with Longitude Re-search.
continued on page 11
10 FOCUS CLOUD COMPUTING www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 7 - 13, 2014
RA
NK
COMPANY CONTACT DETAILS CLOUD SERVICES CLIENT LIST
1Appnor MSP
www.appnor.com/[email protected], Tel: (+4) 021 569 46 50
(+1) 650 318 18 11
Cloud Servers, Private Cloud, VoiP&Hosted PBX, Implemen-tation of Google Apps for Business (Google Docs, Gmail,Calendar), Postini Mail Services, Chromebooks, Geo andGSA
N/A
2
GTS TELECOM
Sebastian PitePresales [email protected]
Public, hybrid and private cloud IaaS services, virtual ma-chines, virtual hosting, storage and back-up; platform builttogether with VMware for virtualization, CISCO for process-ing power, NetApp for storage and ComVault for backup
N/A
3Gecadnet www.gecadnet.ro
Tel: (+4) 021 303 2070
Microsoft public cloud solutions: business and productivitysolutions, Office, email, unified communication, CRM solu-tions. Public cloud related services: consultancy in choosingthe suitable solutions, migration and implementation assis-tance. Private cloud solutions: SystemV, turn-key virtualiza-tion and management platform which includes virtualizationsolution, infrastructure management, physical server, stor-age. Private cloud related services: Consultancy, configura-tion, deployment, support
Mercury 360, AmCham, Axxess Capital Partners, Romanian-American Foundation,SIEL INVEST, SERVICE AUTOSERUS, Best Business Travel andmany more
4Infotrend Data SRL
www.infotrend.ro [email protected] Tel: (+4) 031 4326 425/426/427
Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Active Di-rectory, Microsoft Office 365 (Microsoft Exchange Online,Microsoft Lync, SharePoint, Office Web Apps), ExchangeHosted Services, Cloud advisory services
Anchor Group
5
Interactive IntelligenceGroup Inc.
www.inin.com, [email protected] +1 317 872 3000
Interactive Intelligence CaaS (Communication as a Service)has become the cloud contact center solution of choice formid-size to large, mission-critical contact centers and busi-ness operations
Emerson, global ININ customerwith office in Romania.
6Maguay
[email protected] Tel: (+4) 021 210 38 33
Development of Private Cloud Projects, Solutions for con-solidating and developing IT infrastructure, Server-opti-mized equipment for Public Cloud Services
Electrica Serv. More onwww.maguay.ro
7Microsoft Romania
[email protected] Tel: (+4) 021 204 70 40
Accessible enterprise solutions for SMEs: Office 365, Win-dows Intune, Windows Azure and Microsoft Dynamics CRMOnline
AFAN, Softelligence, Provident, Relians, GSbet, Zitec, EBS Roma-nia, Electrica Serv, University ofBucharest, Electra Instal, ITChan-nel, MedCenter, Senior Software,Dimitrie Gusti Village Museum
8
Pras Consulting SRL
www.pras.ro, [email protected]: (+4) 0372 705 618
Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Windows Intune,http://www.udocx.com/
Provident, Macromex, Sustainalyt-ics, Educativa, Technosec, GlobalRemote Services, Zebra Pay
9SAP
http://www.sap.com/romania/index.html, [email protected]+40312252800
applications for HR, financial, acquisitions, sales & market-ing SAP Jam collaborative solutions, in-memory computingSAP HANA platform, Ariba solutions for business networks
N/A
10 Star [email protected] Tel: (+4) 021 242 13 95
StarVault: Connectivity, Collocation, Managed Collocation,Managed Hosting, Dedicated Server, Dedicated Storage,Cloud Server, Cloud Files, Remote Back-up, Remote Repli-cation, Virtual Tape Vaulting, Managed Security Monitoring,Hosted Corporate Website, Hosted eCommerce Website,Hosted CRM, eArchive
Top companies from retail andbanking, the public sector, nationaland international companies
11
Softline Romania
www.softline.com.ro [email protected] Tel: (+4) 021 387 34 40
Softline Cloud Solutions, Microsoft Office 365, Google Apps,Panda Security, Zscaler
Wide range of clients from domains such as: transport, services, construction, architec-ture, media, education, consultancy
12 Softtelligence
[email protected],TeodorBlidarus, managing [email protected]+40 722 563 650/+40 31 425 19 08
Software e-Business solutions based on CRM, BI, Web andMobile, hosted in the cloud and integrated into the clients’environment such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft AX, MicrosoftNAV. Certified in CRM, BI, SQL Server, Windows Azure, NET,HTML 5, CSS3 and JavaScript
MOL Romania, AON, AgricoverCredit, Ambient, Blue Air, Raiffeisen, BCR Leasing, ING, LibraBank, Allianz Tiriac, Egis, GarantaAsigurari
13YMENS www.ymens.com, 031 9201
Cloudsourcing solutions to private and public organizationssuch as consulting, support, administration and mainte-nance, BPO (business process outsourcing), AMS (applica-tion management services) or IT outsourcing and security.
N/A
14 Zitec
http://www.zitec.com/,[email protected], Ionut Cocias(Business Developer)[email protected]+40 (0)31 710 01 14
Consultancy and auditing for cloud migration (Amazon AWS,Microsoft Azure, Rackspace), development and mainte-nance for cloud applications (Amazon AWS, MicrosoftAzure, Rackspace), assistance in Microsoft Azure cloudservices acquisition. Certified as Amazon AWS AdvancedTechnology Partner
Videopublishing.com, Zipongo.com,Paravion.ro, Borealy.ro,Rechizitelemele.ro
Cloud services providers
Cloud services providers are listed alphabetically
CLOUD COMPUTING FOCUS 11www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 7 - 13, 2014
continued from page 9
The survey included 1,275 CFOs, top and middle executivesfrom organizations with annual salesof over USD 250 million from all overthe world, out of which 670 respon-dents are working in the EMEA region.
Over two thirds of respondentsagreed the CFO was a strong sup-porter of the transformative power oftechnology, and nearly three quartersof financial directors believe tech-nologies such as cloud, mobile solu-tions and social networks will changethe way the budget is drawn up andmanaged.
Some 28 percent of survey inter-viewees were already using cloud so-lutions to support the budget
planning and forecast, while another33 percent intended to transfer themto cloud over the next year. Further-more, 24 percent had adopted acloud-based system in certain depart-ments for basic finance, while 45 per-cent were planning to do so.
“Financial directors today arecreating financial organizations thatadopt cloud technologies and otherdisruptive technologies to use thepower of digital solutions and propelthe company forward,” says Scott Brennan, director for Accenture strategy in finance & enterprise performance.
The maturation of big data, cloud,mobile solutions and social networkshave brought organizations to a criti-cal point where they need to re-assesstheir digital strategies, concludes thereport.
About 70 percent of respondentsbelieve these technologies willchange the way in which they areleading and managing their financialprocesses within the company. Only 5percent of respondents complainedthat the lack support from the topmanagement was an obstacle toadopting new technologies for finan-cial operations.
“The main trend that can be seenglobally, but also in Romania, is thefact that cloud services are no longerrelated to TCO (Total Cost of Owner-ship). We are no longer talking about
IT – the time has come when impor-tant decisions regarding technologyare made outside the IT departmentand the CIO’s office. The main thingthat will influence cloud adoptionwill no longer be budget economiesbut innovation, since top companieswill invest in cloud as a basis for thenew competitive offers,” Tomsa tellsBR. He adds that the IDC predicts thatby 2016, new IT investments will in-volve business executives as the maindecision makers in more than half ofthe cases.
In Romania, the top managementhas a very positive attitude to cloud,
“due to its low upfront investment,rich functionality and the possibly tofocus on the core business, and theyoften like the elasticity of the cloud,”Marcin Grygielski, territory managerfor Eastern Europe, Interactive Intel-ligence, tells BR.
He adds, “The financial depart-ment also sees cloud solutions as pos-itive, due to their predictable costsand the fact that cloud providersallow them to control capital expen-ditures by using an operating expensebudget instead.”
In IT departments it’s a differentstory. Even though it should be thedriver for technological change, IThas “the least positive attitude to-wards the cloud,” says Grygielski.
“What cloud does is to force the IT de-partment to start working differently
by shifting from technology manage-ment to vendor management. Notmany IT departments are willing togive up key control of their businessinfrastructure,” he explains.
Balaci shares his company’s expe-rience when dealing with clients. Hesays Ymens talks cloud with top andmiddle managers. Generally, topmanagers turn to cloud in order to op-timize their business processes andfocus on their core activities, whilemiddle managers enquire about cloudin an attempt to reach greater effi-ciency in their departments, Balacitells BR. He says that CFOs see cloudas an answer to transform CAPEX intoOPEX and to optimize overall invest-ments.
On the other hand, IT departments’perceptions of cloud are mixed, hesays. “Some IT managers see cloudsolutions as the future of technologyand are racing to embrace them intheir company, while others have amore reticent approach as theywrongly perceive cloud as a solutionthat diminishes their importance inthe company. When it comes to cloudmigration I believe that cloud will en-hance the importance the IT depart-ment has in the overall business, notonly regarding technology consump-tion inside the company,” concludesBalaci.
“The local cloud
computing market is
forecast to reach EUR
150 million in 2017,
with annual growth
of an estimated 30
percent”
Bogdan Balaci, CEO ofYmens
12 WELLNESSwww.business-review.eu
Business Review | April 7 - 13, 2014
Jog on: Romania runstowards a fitter futureLocal runners have long been a fixture at worldwide athletics competitions, with a sporting culture that predatesthe First World War, when the Romanian Athletics Federation became affiliated to the International Associationof Athletics Federations. BR found out if this activity has now gone mainstream.
Mens sana in corpore sano: Romanians are embracing the idea that only a healthy body can support a healthy mind, and more are hitting the road to keep theirbodies in top condition
∫ OANA VASILIU
The increasing number of marathonsand other such sporting events makesone wonder whether Romanians havestarted to understand the importanceand benefits of doing physical activity.
In 2014, 32 marathons are scheduledin several Romanian cities, withBucharest hosting the most importantrunning events of the calendar.
According to the study Sport in Ro-mania – The link between Brands, Com-panies and Sports conducted byQuantix Marketing Consulting, 50.7 per-cent of Romanians participate in at leastone sporting activity per year, and over90 percent of respondents believe thatexercise can improve their health.
“Romania has had several athletesthat have distinguished themselves inworldwide competitions since the lastcentury. What happens now is that wehave started to build a sporting pyramid,
with a very good base formed of hun-dreds of thousands of amateur runnersthat participate in competitions,” saidBogdan Antohe, managing partner ofSmartAthletic, a sports events company.
According to the results of the latestEurobarometer survey on sport andphysical activity, released in March bythe European Union, 59 percent of EUcitizens never or seldom exercise orplay sport, while 60 percent of respon-dents in Romania said they did so atleast once a week.Although the nationis not as physically active as NorthernEurope, which scored above 70 percent,the number of local races is rising everyyear, for children, amateurs, profession-als and even runners with special needs.
“I’ve been doing sports events for tenyears now and the results are amazing.For example, the first Bucharest Inter-national Marathon had 800 participants,while in 2013, six years later, some8,000 runners lined up at the startingline. Triathlon Challenge Mamaia
(swimming, biking, and running) hasposted similar growth, with 100 partic-ipants in 2008 and almost 1,000 fiveyears later. When it comes to kids’events, Trikids had 50 participantsthree years ago while the last editionhad over 600,” says Antohe.
Getting into gearIf you’re tempted to join the movement,what will you need to start poundingthe pavement? A complete jogging out-fit can vary from RON 120 to severaltens of thousands.
Antoniu Nituleasa, operational di-rector of Genco Romania, gave the fol-lowing example for high-end attire andrecommends Nike products, the Millerrunning t-shirt (RON 129.99), FilamentTights (RON 179.99) and Asics Gel-Kayano running shoes (RON 809.99). AtGenco Romania, Nike and Adidasbrands are the best sellers.
When kitting themselves out, athletes should focus on footwear.
“Running shoes are very important, be-cause they give a valuable boost of en-ergy that increases both the quality andduration of running,” said Adina Militaru, head of marketing at PumaBalkans.
Upcoming eventsApril 13, Mamaia resort, the SandMarathonApril 13, Cluj Napoca, AROBS Inter-national MarathonApril 26, Bucharest, The Color RunMay 4, Bucharest, Wings for Life WorldRun May 17-18, Petrom Bucharest Inter-national Half MarathonMay 21, Cluj Napoca, Run with DonathJune 7, 2 Mai resort, Offroad TriathlonJune 21, Poiana Brasov, DHL RelayCarpathians Marathon
All photos: Mihai C
onstantineanu
14 CITY www.business-review.eu
Business Review | April 7 - 13, 2014
FOUNDING EDITOR Bill AveryPUBLISHER Anca IonitaEDITOR-IN-CHIEF Simona Fodor JOURNALISTS Otilia Haraga - seniorjournalist, Simona Bazavan, Ovidiu Posirca, Oana Vasiliu COPY EDITOR Debbie Stowe PHOTO EDITOR: Mihai ConstantineanuLAYOUT Beatric e Gheorghiu ART DIRECTOR Alexandru Oriean
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR George MoiseSALES & EVENTS DIRECTOROana MolodoiSALES & EVENTS
Sales managers: Ana-Maria Nedelcu,Oana Albu, Raluca ComanescuMARKETING
Ana-Maria Stanca, Ana Maria Andrei,Iulia MizganPRODUCTION Dan MitroiDISTRI BUTION Eugen Musat
PUBLISHERBloc Notes Media ADDRESSNo. 10 Italiana St., 2nd floor, ap. 3Bucharest, Romania LANDLINEEditorial: 031.040.09.32Office: [email protected]@[email protected]
ISSN No. 1453 - 729X
DEBBIE STOWE
Director: Corneliu PorumboiuStarring: Corneliu Porumboiu, AdrianPorumboiuOn at: Elvire Popesco, CinematecaUnion, NCRR
A standard movie lasts about an hourand a half. So does a football match.Corneliu Porumboiu has fused thetwo in his latest experiment with film,form and function. The Second Gameconsists of a rerun of a 1988 Dinamo-Steaua match, without the originalsound, as Porumboiu and his fatherAdrian (who refereed the game)watch and chat about it.
Proceedings start like many Ro-manian New Wave works: absurdly. Ablizzard rages as the officials emergeto a thick layer of snow, the support-
ers huddled under umbrellas. Todaythe game would be called off, and theanything-goes nostalgia of 1980sfootball is a movie highlight – at leastfor fans of the beautiful game.
Not that there is much beauty inthis particular game, with the condi-tions hindering fluid passing. But im-ages of a more innocent age offootball – sponsor logos either en-tirely absent, or so faint they canbarely be discerned, a mere smatter-ing of advertising hoardings, one ofwhich was for Bucur Obor market, notto mention the 1980s mullets – maycharm supporters sick of (alleged)Qatari World Cup bribery and pam-pered players writing off sports cars,snorting coke and sexting. As may ayoung Dan Petrescu and Gica Hagi.
The innocence did not extend offthe pitch. In one of the meatier sec-tions of commentary, Porumboiu
Senior details how both clubs hadtried to bribe him, something thefootball bigwigs had sought to hushup. Background about the teams’links with the army and the Securitate(the Communist-era secret police)will also interest those unfamiliarwith Romanian football history,though this will not surprise local au-diences.
In the main, though, the commen-tary is meandering, with minutesspent debating the merits and appli-cation of the advantage rule, andbanal observations on obscure histor-ical players and officials. It’s some-times interrupted by incoming texts,phone calls and mobile phone inter-ference. At other times father and songo quiet, watching the action (theword is used loosely).
If all this sounds rather boring,then the director knows it. The gameis long and nothing happens, notesPorumboiu Junior at one point; “It’slike one of my films.”
In his recent works, he seems tohave been gradually stripping awayconventions of drama and develop-ment. While 2009’s Police, Adjectivewas slow, it was a procedural of sortsand built to the resounding climax ofVlad Ivanov’s belligerent speechify-ing. Last year’s When Evening Fallson Bucharest or Metabolism, about anaffair between a tedious film directorand actress, was more inward-lookingand less rewarding.
In The Second Game, even moremovie staples – editing, cinematogra-phy – are jettisoned. The conceit isunusual, and football fans and filmgeeks will find some pickings, butoverall it seems more suited to a mod-ern art gallery than a cinema.
As the credits roll, the screechingviolins of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons provide the most drama of the day – a droll sign-off from a knowingdirector.
On the ball: former referee Adrian Porumboiu reminisces with son Corneliu
FILM REVIEW
The Second GameCiprian Gorita
has joined KPMG
in Romania as asenior managerin advisory, inpublic sectorconsulting, wherehe will be sup-porting EU funds
and infrastructure projects. Goritabrings 13 years of experience inthe public sector, where his mostrecent position was high levelcounsellor in the Department forInfrastructure Projects and For-eign Investment. He previouslyworked for the Ministry of Trans-port, and prior to that for the Min-istry of Finance, where he coordi-nated the government’s PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP) unit.Earlier in his career, Gorita alsoworked for the Ministry of Euro-pean Integration, where he wasclosely involved in Romania’s EUaccession negotiations. He hasgiven lectures on negotiation at the International University Institute for European Studies, Go-rizia, Italy.
Vasile Varvaroi has been promoted to GM ofCargill Romania. Starting thisJune he will coordinate the localpresence of the US food industrygroup with a special emphasis onbusiness in the field of grains andoil seeds. Varvaroi has been withthe company for more than tenyears, working both in Romaniaand in Canada. In 2012, he rejoinedthe Romanian team in a regionalposition as production line repre-sentative for grains and oil seedsin CEE (Romania, Russia, Ukraine,Hungary, Slovakia, Poland andBulgaria). The new GM is replacingMartin Schuldt, who will return toGermany to take over the regionalposition previously held by Varvaroi.
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