Romania was close to having its 2026 EU funding suspended in July, but “we are now in another reality” after the new government took the necessary steps in the past 100 days, finance minister Alexandru Nazare, said upon returning from the October 9-10 EcoFin meeting, without any specific details about his talks on the Commission’s views regarding the fiscal consolidation under the Excessive Deficit Procedure.
Minister Nazare said Romania will send to the European Commission the Medium-Term Structural Fiscal Budget Plan, revised to include the impact of the first and second packages of reforms, on October 15.
The initial plan, drafted last autumn, is no longer relevant, and the Commission has already sketched a revised consolidation trajectory in July. With no budget planning for 2026, it is not clear how the government of Romania can submit a revised medium-term consolidation plan.
“Romania has an approved Medium-Term Structural Fiscal Budget Plan [the one drafted last autumn], under which it did not report progress within the deadlines established by the regulation [by June this year]. This time, we will submit, on October 15, the report to the European Commission, and it is based on the measures adopted in packages 1 and 2, measures that form the basis of the European Commission’s assessment of the effective measures taken to re-enter the assumed trajectory,” minister Nazare stated, as reported by Ziarul Financiar.
“The recent measures and their assessment form the basis for avoiding the suspension of European funds. I am confident that we will manage to secure a new allocation of EUR 21 billion from the PNRR, vital for Romania’s development in the coming period,” he added.
The European Commission is supposed to evaluate Romania’s performance twice a year, with a second review before October 15.
Compared to an initial 7%-of-GDP target announced by Romania in January and a 7.5%-of-GDP deficit informally agreed by the Commission in July, the country will end the year with a gap of 8.4% of GDP under the first budget revision already endorsed. Although it reportedly agrees with the revision, there is no formal confirmation for this new fiscal trajectory.
iulian@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: Gov.ro)
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