The European Commission issued a warning to Bucharest over the lag in implementing National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) measures, while Romanian minister Adrian Câciu emphasises the need for accelerated progress but applauds steps already taken.
Romania has made “remarkable progress” in implementing the NRRP, Câciu, the Investments and European Projects minister, said. But, during the annual conference on the recovery plan’s implementation on Wednesday, he also acknowledged the need to accelerate the projects’ pace.
“Romania has already collected 33.1% of the funds allocated through the recovery plans, and €1.9 billion have already been spent with the execution in March,” the minister said.
“Pragmatically, we need to speed up the implementation and the available funds to support the development of the economy,” he added.
The country received its first pre-financing loan from the EU in December 2021 and its first payment in October 2022.
The EU plan is designed to assist member states’ recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and equip them to make reforms and investments across multiple economic, governmental, and social sectors to increase the country’s sustainability and digital preparedness.
“Romania has made remarkable progress in the last year in implementing the NRRP,” Câciu said in a press release.
The conception of the NRRP was “very good,” Céline Gauer, director general of DG RECOVER, said on Wednesday. However, she added that the third instalment of Romania’s NRRP funds is “delayed” due to their failure to implement reforms.
She said it is essential that Romania uses 2024 to “accelerate the implementation of reforms.”
In Gauer’s estimation, 2024 will define the country’s success or failure in meeting its objectives.
Noting that Romania has only 29 months to meet 400 milestones and targets, she warned that failure to submit payment requests by August 2026 or to meet established milestones would result in financial losses and potential fund repayments for Romania.
Declan Costello, deputy director general of DG ECFIN, echoed concerns about the fiscal situation, stating that corrective measures should have been implemented by now.
“The last time we checked the numbers, we were expecting a deficit of over 6%, which was supposed to go down this year. We see things going in the wrong direction,” Costello said.
He added that the European Commission expects Romania’s deficit to be closer to 7% of GDP this year.
“The fiscal deficit combined with the current account deficit is worrisome and represents a threat to Romania in the future,” Costello said, stressing the need for a “credible” medium-term fiscal plan.
Romania has been in an excessive deficit since 2020.
Câciu admitted delays in the approval process for the third disbursement request, worth €2.6 billion, submitted on 15 December. The deadline for its approval by the European Commission expired on 16 March.
Romania could receive €28.5 billion under the NRRP until 2026 and of the €9.4 billion disbursed so far, only €2 billion has been used.
(Cătălina Mihai and Mădălina-Elena Prundea | Euractiv.ro)
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Source: euractiv.com
