Following a third round of negotiations with the European Commission, Romania managed to preserve the EUR 13.6 billion in non-reimbursable funds from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) allocated for investments, according to an announcement made by interim prime minister Ilie Bolojan.
On Monday, June 22, the government approved the latest negotiations on the PNRR, meant to clarify how Romania will implement the 66 reforms and 385 milestones it has committed to. Each is linked to EU funds that the country is set to receive.
According to the memorandum, by the end of August, the end date of the PNRR program, Romania must absorb nearly EUR 5 billion more to pay for advanced works.
“One of the important elements of the negotiation was related to the financing of highways. And an important aspect is the European Commission’s agreement for highway payments to be made proportionally to the share of completed works, so that we do not lose significant amounts of money,” said Ilie Bolojan.
“Another important direction was related to reforms, milestones, and targets. The negotiations were conducted in such a way that, where objectively we cannot meet the targets – the railway sector, other areas, for example – the European Commission accepted reduced targets, so that we do not suffer financial losses,” he added.
In turn, interim European projects minister Dragoș Pîslaru warned that further reforms are needed to attract European funds.
“The solution is the adoption of this 7+1 package, because the eighth one is public sector salaries, and somehow all of these must be adopted through assuming responsibility. And, last but not least, what is very important, we must remain aware that where things cannot be corrected, as was the case with decarbonization, these elements remain things that we will indeed have to account for, for things that were not done on time,” he said.
Earlier this month, Romania moved closer to receiving EUR 2.62 billion under the fourth payment request of its National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) after the European Union’s Economic and Financial Committee endorsed the European Commission’s positive assessment
Romania is among the largest beneficiaries of the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, but the implementation of reforms has repeatedly lagged behind schedule. Several major milestones remain outstanding, including legislation related to public sector governance, state-owned enterprises, public administration, taxation, and sectoral reforms.
(Photo source: gov.ro)
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