Think-tank maintains criticism against RO Govt's EUR 10 bln public investment program

Despite some last-minute improvements, the emergency ordinance on the EUR 10 bln public investment program endorsed by the Romanian Government on Friday (September 3) and published in the Official Journal on Monday incorporates major failures that recommend a more detailed screening from the Constitutional Court, according to think tank Expert Group.

The program, known as Anghel Saligny or PNDL3, was severely criticized by the reformist USR-PLUS as an instrument at the discretion of prime minister Florin Citu.

In the meantime, USR-PLUS pulled out of the Government for exactly reason, among others.

"The fundamental problem of this national project remains the same: the allocation of funds by ministerial order. Plus, it [the project] doesn't specify how the money from the city halls will be recovered in five years. There are only political statements, and I don't think there is money for these local development projects; the money will eventually be covered from the Budget Reserve Fund [from the central government budget]. We maintain the request sent to the Ombudsman to notify the Constitutional Court: the urgency of adopting the ordinance was not justified, the project had to be debated in the Parliament," said Septimius Parvu, Expert Group expert, quoted by Adevarul.

He admitted that some of the failures were addressed compared to the first draft of the project.

"There are certain amendments that partially address the questions about integrity. There is an article that provides for the creation of a platform on which municipalities must register their projects and allocation for each project. After the projects are approved, municipalities will be required to report the progress of their projects and who are the contractors," he explained.

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