Romania ditches French-won contract to build Black Sea warships

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
8 Aug 2023 20:45
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Bucharest says the decision to cancel the tender came after France failed to sign the framework within the time limit.

The first-of-class Gowind 2500 corvette by France's Naval Group in 2017 (Naval Group)

Romania announced canceling a 1.2 billion euros government tender won by France's Naval Group for building four warships after the two parties failed to finalize the agreement despite both NATO members wanting to reinforce their military presence in the Black Sea.

The French company won the contract in 2019 to build four Gowind corvettes and co-renovate two others with Romanian company Constanta Shipyard, but the contract was never signed.

Bucharest is considered a key player in NATO's eastern flank, which the coalition has been ramping up in the past few years as it further expands toward Russian borders.

The efforts were put on overdrive after the start of the war in Ukraine, where Romania hiked its defense spending from 2 percent of GDP in 2022 to 2.5 percent in 2023.

"The decision to cancel the specific procedure was taken... since the successful tenderer did not sign the framework agreement within the time limits requested by the contracting authority," Romania's Defense Ministry said in a press briefing.

The second contender for the award was the Dutch group Damen, however, the Ministry said "the funds required to declare the next-placed economic operator the winner were not identified."

According to local media outlets, the deal fell through due to Romanian attempts to adjust initial contract terms, especially regarding costs.

Reports also claimed that government officials previously attempted to obstruct the Naval Group's offer and award Damen the contract for "political reasons".

The Baltic country intensified its NATO participation recently, now hosting some thousand foreign boots on its grounds, including a fighting force led by France.

As part of its plans to grow its military capabilities, Romania has been putting work to modernize its army, which includes the purchase of hardware such as US-made Abrams tanks, submarines, and anti-mine ships.

Earlier this year, the coalition announced deploying Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance aircraft to the country to allegedly monitor Russian military activities.