The blockages in the PNRR. What chance are the political leaders to bring the billions of euros promised to Romania. An analyst: “Much of the projects are postponed”

After a year with four strings of election and another poll in 2025, the governors are trying to recover the implementation of PNR. However, progress is delayed by problems that come from the past, a context in which experts contradict the promises of executive leaders who envisage an absorption of almost 100% funds.

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After the addition of the repowereu chapter, the PNRR allocation was 28.5 billion euros, 14.9 billion euros in the form of loans, 13.6 billion euros in the form of grants. The plan covers over 60 reforms and 113 investments and provides for 518 milestones and targets related to the assumed reforms and investments.

The reforms and investments assumed concern 6 main pillars: green transition, digital transformation, intelligent, sustainable and favorable growth, social and territorial cohesion, health and economic, social and institutional resilience for the new generation.

Less and less hospitals in PNRR

Many of the hospitals promised through PNRR risks remaining only at the promise stage. In some cases, the works were not started, although they should be completed in 2026. From 27, they were initially stipulated, only 24 signed the contracts with the construction companies, and at the first renegotiation, it reached 19 hospitals, according to details made by the Minister of European Funds, Marcel Boloș, in the Parliament.

It would actually remain only 13 funded from the 19. The remaining 6 could enter the health program or be completed on the basis of a loan from the European Investment Bank. “The discussions with the European Commission were that all those hospitals that have the public procurement contracts concluded and the work in the site can continue to continue the financing from the National Plan for Resilization and Resility. This negotiation is currently working with the representatives of the Commission, it will be finalized during this month ””said the Minister of European Funds, Marcel Boloș.

The executive from Bucharest tries to expand the term from August 2026 towards the end of the year for the completion of the projects in the health area.

“But we also engage with a certain obligation to be functional until the end of 2026, and used and functional“, Is the condition that Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu assumes.

The problem of special pensions

Romania also negotiates new changes regarding special pensions. The payment of 230 million euros is blocked by the European Commission for missing the special pensions reform, which represents the 215 PNR milestone. In this context, the coalition has submitted an initiative that proposes that the pensions of the magistrates be capped to 65% of the value of the revenues of the last 6 months of activity. Currently, the value amounts to 80%. The project gradually increases the retirement age for new magistrates at 65, so this condition would apply in 2045.

However, the problem of special pensions is resumed, in the context in which the law that would progressively tax the special pensions was rejected by the RCC, at that time it was invoked that the way of calculating the distributivity was inexact. The jalon is part of the number 3 application.

Ordinance for corporate governance

Another problem is the selection of the Amepip chief, which is going to control all the state companies in Romania. However, the selection was resumed for the second time, Minister Marcel Boloș confirmed for economics. Romania could lose 500 million euros from the PNRR unless Amepip is set up, a context in which the executive leaders have recently adopted a project that modifies the selection and mandate of public enterprises administrators. Thus, the members of the board of directors will no longer be able to accumulate the membership with the employee of the state company. In the case of administrators, employees are located, the individual employment contract is suspended during the term of office.

The provisions come in the context in which the European Commission decided, in the middle of October last year, the partial suspension of the application number 3 of payment in the PNRR, among the reasons invoked being non -transparent and non -based in which the appointments are made to the head of the state energy companies and to the Agency for Public Monitoring and Evaluation.

“Romania will approach 100% regarding the absorption of PNRR funds” – Tanczos Barna, the Minister of Finance

However, the Minister of Finance, Tanczos Barna, states that Romania will approach 100% regarding the absorption of PNR funds, even if the terms for this program will not be extended by the European Union, giving the example of the 2014-2021 absorption. “When I say that we will approach 100% I even spoke seriously because 1. The 2014-2021 programming period ended with a percentage-I say from memory, I hope not to make mistakes-98.8-98.9% is the absorption during the respective programming period. So it is not true that Romania is not able to absorb funds. 2. On the cohesion funds we have a huge over-contraction, we try to keep the overload to 150% so as not to expand too much and not to create too much pressure on the budget ”argued the minister in statements in Craiova.

What the analysts say

“The latest data show that investments last year were lower than in 2023. In other words, the statements of the Minister of Finance at the moment related to the fact that we will take 100% money from PNRR are just a simple story with electoral, which has no feasible chance to become realized if we do not take some administrative measures meant to eliminate the infernal field and from this project“, Explained the economic analyst Adrian Negrescu for” Adevărul “.

The specialist also emphasized that “Most of the projects are postponed, over 80% of the ongoing projects have major financing issues. Because not taking the money from Brussels, the projects had to be paid and borrowed with 8-9% interest to have more and more invoices for the infrastructure area, for all the PNR, for all the PNR, for all the PNR.

Romania has managed to fulfill 14% of the assumed milestones and targets so far. Reforms and investments in the EU Member States through the recovery and resilience mechanism must be completed until August 31, 2026, the remaining time being only 1 year and 8 months. According to monitorpnrr. I, of the total amount of 28, 5 billion euros, have been collected so far about 9.4 billion euros. The initial programming showed that the amounts collected should have amount to 15 billion euros. In fact, this year the payment applications number 5 and 6 had to be submitted.