Minister Pîslaru, announcement about the 231 million euros from the PNRR suspended. What will the European Commission do after the reform of magistrates' pensions
“We have a confirmation from the European Commission that it will look constructively at the arguments that we put on the table”, declared Thursday the Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dragoș Pîslaru, referring to the milestone regarding the magistrates' pensions, where we have suspended the sum of 231 million euros from the PNRR. The decision of the European Commission could be known by the end of this month.
The milestone regarding magistrates' pensions is part of payment request number 3 of the PNRR.
The minister declared on Thursday at the Government that Romania could benefit from over three billion euros related to payment requests 3 and 4.
“Payment request No. 4 is worth 2.62 billion euros and our assumption is that we will receive it in full, and the difference is related to payment request 3. The two will probably be combined and we will have a single payment from the Commission”, declared Dragoș Pîslaru.
Regarding the amount of 231 million euros, money from PNRR conditional on the fulfillment of the milestone regarding the modification of magistrates' pensions, Minister Pîslaru specified that Romania's arguments will be analyzed 'constructively' by the European Commission. The EC decision could be known by the end of this month.
“We have a confirmation from the European Commission that it will look constructively at the arguments that we have put on the table. Obviously, at this moment we are waiting to see the Commission's analysis. (…) The European Commission has accepted the evidence that we uploaded to the system, but the decision regarding the amount of this payment and the amount of the entire payment request 3 is to be found out after we finish the analysis,” said the minister, quoted by Agerpres.
The decision of the European Commission could be known by the end of this month.
“It's only official when you get the official letter”
The minister explained, on February 19, that Romania will officially find out whether or not it has lost the money only when the European Commission sends an official letter to this effect: “I made this correction in less than half an hour, but thank you for drawing my attention and we will be careful next time”.
Romania will find out whether or not it can recover a part of the 231 million euros, after the decision of the CCR, which declared the changes made to the pensions of constitutional magistrates, in March at the latest, Pîslaru said.
“I can tell you that the analysis of the payment request 3 will take into account the arguments that we will submit. For me, what was very important was to make sure that even though we are in the 13th hour, more than 2 months late, at least by the way we move and raise the issue and the relations we have in Brussels we will be able to submit this information in time so that it can be taken into account in the analysis of payment three,” the Minister of Investments and Projects said then European.
