European funds for Romania
Romania has received a new instalment worth €1.3 billion from the European Commission’s Recovery and Resilience Mechanism
Mihai Pelin, 11.06.2025, 13:50
Romania has received €1.3 billion from the European Commission, as part of the third package of payments linked to the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). However, this is not the full amount, namely €2 billion, because Bucharest did not implement the related reforms. However, the government is considering amending the Plan, so that the fourth instalment would be larger, in order to recover lost payments. Romania is not the only country operating such changes, and the Commission and the Council have similar requests on the table from several Member States. According to Brussels, Romania has six outstanding milestones in the reform chapters of the Plan pertaining to the third disbursement, which are pending since last year. Romania’s third payment request included 37 reforms and 17 investments. One of the missed reforms was designed to cut spending on special pensions, and another sought to reform state-owned enterprises or institutions. Romania has until November 28 to implement all the necessary measures in order to fully unlock the third payment, the Ministry of Investments and European Projects says. The partial suspension of funds does not involve the loss of any amounts allocated to Romania. The €869 million remains blocked and will be collected after all the requirements are fulfilled. The Minister of Investments and European Projects, Marcel Boloş, said that Romanian authorities are trying to renegotiate the Plan, in order to be able to replace investments that have a slow implementation pace with others, financed from the state budget or from national programs. In order to receive the other disbursements from the European Commission, Romania must also undertake other reforms, Marcel Boloş said.
“We are talking about the tax reform, the pollution tax for means of transportation, the energy law, the justice laws, we have the Urban Planning Code, jointly with the electronic platform for implementing these regulations. We also have the Forestry Code, and the decision to restructure Romsilva, and, of course, the hydrogen strategy and the biodiversity strategy”.
Last week, the Commission warned that Romania and two other European states are reporting the biggest delays in implementing their national plans, about 80%, and recommended simplifying the overgrown Recovery and Resilience Plan, in order to be able to focus on projects that can be completed within the specific deadline. The total amount collected by Romania from the allocated funds reached €10.74 billion. The amount allocated to Romania for the implementation of the Plan is €28.5 billion, of which €13.6 billion in the form of grants and €14.9 billion in the form of loans. Targets and milestones linked to reforms and investments must be implemented by 20 Romanian ministries and public authorities. (VP)
