Only 11 of the 22 countries, recipients of the European Union's Resilience Facility, have already received the first disbursement, according to Liberal (PNL) MEP Siegfried Muresan, who argues that the second instalment is not blocked, but "its disbursement will take a bit more" than planned.

MEP Muresan implied that it is actually the European Commission that needs more time to evaluate the request of Romania, "which did its part of the job," News.ro reported.

The EC confirms that "the disbursement of the second tranche has not been postponed - the payment request is still in the evaluation stage at the level of the European Commission".

The minister of European funds, Marcel Boloș, stated that clarifications are being made at this moment, the aspects related to decarbonization and integrity whistleblowers being important.

The ongoing discussions between the Commission and Romania regard certain key milestones, including a clear calendar for closing mines (a valid topic given the current situation in the energy sector) but also Romania's failure to protect by a clear law the whistleblowers of public interest. 

andrei@romania-insider.com

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