EC rejects some projects proposed by Romania under Relaunch and Resilience facility

The European Commission (EC) refuses to finance under the Relaunch and Resilience Facility (RRF) the EUR 3 billion irrigation project proposed by Romania. The EC has also asked Romania to cut down the EUR 4.5 bln asked for motorway projects, deputy prime minister Dan Barna announced in a show at the public TV station (TVR1) on April 21.

PNRR - Romania's plan for implementing the EC's RRF at the national level - came under the Commission's screening this week, after the Government submitted its first version.

"PNRR must be redone," Agerpres announced, quoting deputy prime minister Barna.

"It's a negotiation," prime minister Florin Citu said one day later, explaining that the PNRR still needs some "fine-tuning."

Romania hasn't officially submitted the PNRR to the EC; therefore, the Commission can not ask Romania to redo it, minister of investments and European projects Cristian Ghinea explained. He admitted that the Commission sent Romania some 100 pages of comments about the country's PNRR draft - but he refused to comment on the content of the Commission's response, Economica.net reported.

About the two topics discussed publicly (the irrigation and the motorways), he admitted that the Commission refuses to finance the irrigation system (otherwise needed by Romania, but not relevant under RRF), and the Commission believes that the Romanian Government asked for too many funds for its motorway projects.

Ghinea also said that the recommended date for submitting the final version of the plan (PNRR) to the EC is April 30, but "it can be exceeded." To substantiate the claim, he stated that Finland had announced that it would present its plan around May 10.

Furthermore, Ghinea reminded that Romania included in PNRR projects needing EUR 40 bln of financing, more than the EUR 30 bln the country can receive in grants and soft loans under Europe's RRF. Romania did this anticipating that the European Commission may not approve certain projects.

President Klaus Iohannis summoned a meeting with all relevant parties involved in drafting the national PNRR on April 26. He said the plan would be improved, and the EC would accept it.

Last year, just before the parliamentary elections, president Klaus Iohannis and former Liberal PM Ludovic Orban presented the first version of Romania's PNRR. However, the new Government led by Liberal PM Florin Citu changed the plan after Cristian Ghinea (USR-PLUS) took over as EU funds minister.