What can Romania get through Prime Minister Bolojan's visit to Brussels, in addition to the money from the PNRR for the special pension milestone. Explanations from EU officials

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan's visit to Brussels comes at a key moment, in which the Head of the Executive can tick off several important points for Romania, from the restart of efforts to obtain the 230 million euros for the special pension milestone to the start of negotiations for a new loan and the future multiannual European budget.

The main topic on the agenda of the Chief Executive is obtaining the money from the PNRR milestone regarding special pensions. Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan discussed in preparation for the meeting with the liberals, in which context he explained the situation of the money for this milestone. But the prime minister can tick off several important objectives for Romania, according to analysts and Romanian MEPs.

However, the visit also comes at a difficult moment for the governing coalition, in a context in which there were no discussions between the parties regarding the country's objectives, the prime minister not having a decided mandate in the coalition, according to “Adevărul” information.

During his visit, meetings were scheduled with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, Implementation and Simplification, as well as with Roxana Mînzatu, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Training.

The Head of the Government had meetings with several officials PHOTO Government of Romania

The start of negotiations on the future multiannual European budget

The visit of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan is crucial on three important files, points out MEP Victor Negrescu, vice-president of the European Parliament:

“First of all, let's receive the money related to the milestone related to special pensions, the approximately 200 million euros. And I believe that it is an obligation for the Executive to obtain this money. And from the point of view of European regulations, it would not be very difficult for this to happen. The second challenge concerns the negotiations regarding the future multiannual European budget. These are the first discussions, but I would like Romania to present its negotiating mandate. And any discussion expressed should correspond to the will expressed by the entire pro-European coalition in Romania, because if we go on behalf of Romania, we must ensure that there is support in Parliament for these negotiations.

And the third component concerns the new East-Invest program, launched by the European Commission. We are talking about more than 20 billion euros in the form of a loan, where I would like Romania to get as much of this money as possible for projects related to infrastructure, in particular, related to agriculture, related to local development and the interconnection with the Republic of Moldova and the development of our activities on the Black Sea”.

According to “Adevărul” information, the future budget will condition the funds on the rule of law and the financing of clean technologies and will also introduce reforms assumed by the European European states. This, however, gives more power to states to negotiate with the European Commission.

Starting the dialogue on the implementation of East-Invest

The presence of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan in Brussels, in the context of the launch of the East-Invest program, plays an important role, points out MEP Siegfried Mureșan, as our country has the chance to start the dialogue quickly.

“Prime Minister Bolojan's visit to Brussels today comes at a very good time. First of all, the European Commission has just announced a facility of 28 billion euros to support the counties in Romania and the other countries on the eastern flank, economically affected by the war in Ukraine. With today's visit, we are quickly starting the dialogue on the implementation of this new instrument, so that Romania is already ready when the money becomes available.

Secondly, the reform of special pensions, carried out by the Bologna Government after a lot of work, allows us to resume negotiations with the European Commission regarding the PNRR funds that had been frozen. These funds were frozen in 2025 because the former Ciolacu government failed to implement the reform of special pensions”.

For the East-Invest program, the Head of Government presents “the projects that we will implement generated by this money”, explains MEP Gheorghe Falcă.

Negotiations regarding the extension of the PNRR implementation

Economic analyst Adrian Negrescu points out that there is a need for a negotiation and a clarification of an optimal calendar for attracting money from the PNRR. Thus, Romania could obtain a half-year extension of the project implementation period:

“I believe that there are real chances that the Government will obtain the money associated with the reform of special pensions, because the European Commission is also not one to block European funds, to practically renounce the payment of European funds to the member states, given that each country has its own specifics from the perspective of the bureaucracy, their interest in politics, the way in which the legislative and decision-making process works, after all.

I believe that we will get this money, that there is maybe this possibility. And on the other hand, I hope that Mr. Bolojan manages to convince the European authorities that we are able to attract the remaining 10 billion euros in the PNRR, until the end of this year. In other words, let's try to extend the implementation period of the projects that expire in August, towards the end of the year, in such a way that we can attract all the European money available. It's a hellish race to attract European funds, it's a very short period of time and I don't know if we have the institutional and logistical capacity to fulfill this extremely important objective for the Romanian economy, attracting the 10 billion euros by August”.

During his visit to Brussels, the prime minister also participates in the high-level conference on the Eastern regions of the European Union, a context in which the economic analyst Adrian Negrescu points out that “Prime Minister Bolojan's mission is to try to convince foreign investors to choose Romania, to the detriment of, for example, Bulgaria, a country that recently entered the euro zone”, context in which the economic recovery package, recently promoted by the Executive, can play an important role.

The Prime Minister also used the visit to go to the Romanian Consulate in Brussels. According to the Executive, the head of the Government wanted to check how the Romanians who arrive at the consular counters in Belgium are treated.