Romania and National Recovery and Resilience Plan funding

Romania has recovered some 350 million euros from its National Recovery and Resilience Plan, but it is losing over 450 millions of its third payment request.

Daniela Budu, 04.05.2026, 13:50

The minister for investments and European projects Dragoș Pîslaru said Romania managed to recover 350.7 million euros from its National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which had initially been suspended, but is definitively losing 458.7 million euros.

This is the final decision of the European Commission, which it conveyed to Bucharest, with regard to Romania’s third payment request under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Described by minister Pîslaru as one of the most difficult requests so far, it was initially submitted on December 15, 2023. The payment was partially suspended in May 2025, after the Commission established that a number of reforms had not been implemented satisfactorily. Romania was given a correction period and it submitted additional justifications towards the end of last year. Brussels’ conclusion was, however, that four important milestones were still not properly resolved.

Following the Commission’s recent decision, minister Pîslaru said in a post on a social network that the loss of money is caused by reforms that were delayed, incomplete, or “poorly carried out in past years.” He emphasised, however, that the most important victory is the one regarding special pensions, with Romania managing to recover 166 million euros out of the 231 million that was initially suspended. He added that despite the delay caused by repeated postponements on constitutional issues, the European Commission confirmed that through the law it eventually adopted, Romania meets the requirements for this milestone.

Another 132 million euros worth of funding was recovered in connection to the putting into operation of the institution that monitors and evaluates state-owned companies. Significant amounts worth almost 200 million euros were lost due to problems found in the selection and appointment of members to the boards of directors of large state-owned energy companies, such as Hidroelectrica, Romgaz and Nuclearelectrica, but also in the appointment of management in state-owned transport companies. Over 50 million euros were recovered for these milestones. The minister for investments and European projects said that where political will existed, Romania recovered most of the allocated money, and where reforms were postponed for years, substantial amounts were lost.

The failure of the reforms can no longer be painted over, and we can end up losing billions of euros if the delays continue due to the same poor management, said the Vice President of the European Parliament, Victor Negrescu. He warned that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan has reached a critical point, and the current attempts to tick off reforms at the last minute are not a solution for unlocking funds.

Romania still has almost 10 billion euros left to collect under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the government is trying to carry out nine reforms by August. The hardest seems to be that related to the uniform salary law, over which there is no political consensus.