Romania’s acting prime Minister Ilie Bolojan held on May 24 a video conference with the prefectures across the country to urge local administration to speed up and screen the status of the projects financed under the EU’s RRF facility, Digi24 announced. A general update will be provided by the afternoon of May 26, before the government’s negotiations with the European Commission on revising the RRF, such as to finance the projects that can be completed in due time, so as not to lose financing.

At the same time, the possibility of transferring to the loan component projects that cannot be completed on time was analyzed. 

The prime minister stressed that it is necessary for prefects to organize urgent meetings with local authorities to centralize data on the real status of projects.

"Technical discussions will continue on Wednesday and Thursday [May 27-28], in view of the next round of negotiations with representatives of the European Commission. The data reported according to the situation on the ground can be verified later by the European Commission. Also, during the videoconference, it was decided to expedite the verification of payment requests, so that eligible projects at an advanced stage can be settled in a timely manner," the government announced.

PM Bolojan also assured that the drafts of the nine laws that are milestones linked to EUR 7.5 billion financing under RRF, will be sent to Parliament by the end of this week. The caretaker government can not promote bills or pass emergency ordinances, but the documents will be approved in Parliament. 

Earlier, on May 22, PM Bolojan had approached the topic of the projects financed under the national investment scheme Anghel Saligny. He reiterated that the government is ready to provide the necessary financing, such as to pay contractors on projects under both RRF and Anghel Saligny, and thus avoid delays. 

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Gov.ro)