Romania submitted the fourth request for payment through the PNRR. The amount that the Bucharest government hopes to receive from Brussels
The Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dragoş Pîslaru, announces, on Friday evening, that the fourth payment request from PNRR, worth over 2.62 billion euros, has been submitted. It contains 62 targets and milestones exclusively from the non-refundable money component, informs News.ro.
“The fourth PNRR payment request was officially submitted today, Friday, December 19, at 20:06. It contains a number of 62 targets and milestones exclusively from the non-refundable money component, with a total value of 2.62 billion Euros. More precisely: 2,620,279,973 Euros. This is the amount of European money we expect to enter Romania's account”, he announced on Friday evening, Minister Dragoş Pîslaru, through a post on Facebook.
According to the minister, “the implementation of PNRR is one of Romania's most important projects, the success of which depends on the development of the national economy, from several perspectives: infrastructure, health, education, environment, digitalization, culture, energy and energy efficiency”.
Achievements reported from Bucharest
Pîslaru explains the main targets and milestones in CP4, aimed at:
Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests: Adoption of the project concepts by government decision for the rehabilitation of 13 existing dams and for the works to modernize flood protection;
Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration: Establishment and development of one-stop offices for the provision of advisory services in the field of energy;
Ministry of Energy: Finalization of the listing of a package of up to 15% of Hidroelectrica shares;
Ministry of Justice: The entry into force of justice laws, the occupation rate of 85% of prosecutor positions within the DNA, investments for the digitization of the judicial system;
National Agency for Public Procurement: Implementation of national electronic forms in public procurement procedures in accordance with EU legislation, operationalization of centralized procurement bodies;
Ministry of Finance: Completion of the analysis of expenditures in the health and education sectors and a systematic analysis of expenditures in all sectors, ANAF staff training in the field of risk management, BID operationalization, general fiscal reform.
Ministry of Investments and European Projects: Financial instruments for the private sector – Financing or investment operations in the amount of at least 100% of the total amount of resources allocated to the instrument;
National Research Authority: completion of the legislation on scientific research and technological development, the implementation and evaluation of action plans by the institutions that have adhered to the European Charter of Researchers and the Code of Recruitment of Researchers;
Ministry of Culture: Entry into force of the law on the status of workers in the cultural sector;
Ministry of Health: 2000+ family doctors' offices renovated and/or equipped with medical equipment; approving the service package and the framework contract that regulates the conditions for providing medical assistance, medicines and medical devices, devices and assistance technologies within the health insurance system;
Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity: 50 modernized community centers (day centers and neuromotor recovery centers for people with disabilities);
General Secretariat of the Government: the continuation of the reform of state companies by increasing transparency, appointments to management positions based on performance criteria, as well as making decisions regarding their future exclusively based on analyzes based on financial and non-financial indicators; a new system of strategic management and strategic planning is operational in all ministries, civil servants qualified to fulfill the function of “experts in sustainable development” in public institutions at central and local level;
Ministry of Education: The entry into force of the legislative package for the implementation of the “Educated Romania” project, the training of 45,000 users of the Integrated Information System of Romanian Education (SIIIR) and the MATE IT tool.
Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure: the adoption of legislation regarding the pollution tax and the encouragement of the purchase of non-polluting vehicles.
According to the Minister of European Investments and Projects, the Commission's response period is a maximum of 60 days.
History of payment requests through PNRR
The first PNRR payment request for Romania, worth 3 billion euros, was sent to the European Commission on May 31, 2022 and approved in September 2022, covering 21 milestones and targets.
On December 15, 2022, Romania submitted the second payment request, in the amount of 3,227,690,000 euros, which was conditional on the fulfillment of 51 targets and milestones related to the first two quarters of 2022. The request was evaluated positively in June 2023.
The third payment request was sent in December 2023, but the payment for this was partially made. All related milestones had to be met by November 28, but Romania has not completed milestone 215, regarding magistrates' pensions. For the time being, it is not known exactly whether or not the money will be received from the European Commission, considering that only on December 28, the CCR discusses the law on the service pensions of magistrates.
The amount allocated to Romania Romania for the implementation of the PNRR is 28.5 billion euros through the PNRR, of which 13.6 billion euros in the form of grants and 14.9 billion euros in the form of loans.
The Ministry of Investments and European Projects technically coordinates the implementation of the PNRR at the national level. The targets and benchmarks assumed by Romania within the PNRR must be implemented by 20 reform and investment coordinators: the ministries and other central public authorities.
