European Commission approves Romania’s revised Recovery and Resilience Plan
A new version of the NRRP has been approved in Brussels.
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Roxana Vasile, 22.11.2023, 14:00
The European Commission approved, on Tuesday, a new version of Romanias Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). In total, for 66 reforms and 111 investments, the financing offered is 28.5 billion euros, a little bit less than in the original plan, given that Romania had a higher economic growth rate than forecast. The new version of the NRRP places a strong emphasis on the transition to green energy, with around 44% of the available funds being allocated to measures supporting climate goals, up from the 41% allocated in the original plan. A new chapter included in the plan, regarding REPowerEU, aims at investing in green energy, promoting the energy efficiency of buildings, as well as reskilling and upskilling the workforce in the field of renewable energy production. Two reforms are envisaged – one introducing a legal framework for the use of non-productive or degraded state-owned land for green energy production and another, creating one-stop shops to provide prosumers with advisory services for energy efficiency renovations and for the production of energy from renewable sources.
Money through the NRRP is also given to Romania for the digital transition, for which 21.8% of the funds are allocated, an increase compared to the original plan. Infrastructure development and digitization of sectors such as healthcare, public employment and social protection services, transport, education, taxation, culture, the judicial system and environmental services are planned.
Hailed from Bucharest, in a Facebook post, by Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, is also the removal from the modified Recovery and Resilience Plan of the ceiling of 9.4% of GDP for expenses with pensions. „The government honored the promise made to the Romanians”. „…we are finally getting rid of the nightmare cynically introduced in the plan by USR, which would have led to the freezing of the pension point until 2070”, Marcel Ciolacu said in the context in which the Government gets ready to implement a new pension law.
The modified version of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan must now be approved by the European Finance Ministers, then by the European Council. Romania has received, so far, through the NRRP, a little over 9 billion euros. The European Commission will authorize new payments, if the established benchmarks and targets are met at a satisfactory level, reflecting the progress in implementing the investments and reforms that Bucharest has undertaken. (EE)
