Micula Brothers go ahead with redundancies

Brothers Ioan and Viorel Micula, owners of the European Food & Drinks group, the largest Romanian-held business in the food industry, are going ahead with redundancy plans first announced at the end of 2008. “We will definitely make people redundant. The lack of state support for the local industry, and the difficult market conditions force us to take these steps,” said Ioan Micula, chairman of European Food. He had previously stated that the group, which had around 8,400 employees in 2008, of whom 3,500 involved in production, could cut staff by a few thousand people. European Food notified the National Employment Agency in Bihor county at the beginning of the year about its intention to make redundant about 5%, i.e. 80 of its employees in the coming period. Micula specified they would lay off people both in Oradea, where European Food & Drinks has its main office, and in the group’s regional branches.