Local authorities slam Romanian government’s decision to drop EU funding for hospitals

Romania’s Health Ministry has dropped six of the 27 hospitals originally scheduled to be upgraded or expanded under the country’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, with local officials either claiming the government has failed to assess the status of the projects or stating they are doing all they can to meet project deadlines.

Due to Romania’s unexpected economic growth in 2021, Romania saw its recovery plan grants reduced by €2.1 billion, resulting in €740 million in grants initially designated for hospital modernisation or expansion being scrapped.

Projects with the “lowest chance” of completion by 2026 have been removed, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said of the six hospitals being removed from the list.

Brașov Mayor Allen Coliban, however, claims that the Health Ministry removed hospitals from the national recovery list without assessing project statuses.

He revealed that in January, the Brașov Pneumophisiology Hospital was ranked seventh out of 49 projects in the ministry’s evaluation. He also shared a Ministry of Health document on Facebook, showing that the request for project status data came after the hospital was removed from the list.

The Health Ministry was also criticised for its “arbitrary” selection by Iustion Cionca, County Council president of Arad County. County authorities have “a contract with the Ministry of Health to complete their hospital by June 2026, and we are doing everything we can to fulfil it”, Cionca told RRA.

As for Constanța, County Council vice-president Petre Enciu said construction of the children’s hospital will continue, as there is “a signed financing contract, which has not been terminated”.

The six hospitals that were struck off the list will receive EIB funding from October, said Health Minister Alexandru Rafila.

The decision shows “a lack of maturity and a proof of irresponsibility”, said Ramona Strugariu, MEP and co-president of the opposition REPER party.

”We haven’t done the hospitals before with EIB or other banks. We won’t do them from now on. Nobody is starting to make loans and all kinds of projects with the EIB, given the fact that we have to quickly adjust the problem of the budget deficit”, Strugariu told Euractiv.

(Cătălina Mihai | Euractiv.ro)