Romania's opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) will ask the Bucharest Court of Appeal to suspend decisions adopted by the interim government led by prime minister Ilie Bolojan, party leader Sorin Grindeanu said on July 28, escalating a dispute over the government's authority to adopt measures linked to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

Grindeanu accused Bolojan of violating the law by issuing government decisions and warned that the prime minister would be "the only one to blame" if Romania loses PNRR funding, G4media.ro reported.

The government responded by withdrawing a decision on the National Strategy for Biodiversity Conservation 2026-2030 and sending the measure to Parliament as a bill. Bolojan said the move was prompted by the PSD's legal action seeking the suspension and annulment of several government decisions.

The biodiversity strategy is a PNRR milestone, designated Milestone 31, and its implementation is linked to a potential penalty of more than EUR 970 million, according to Bolojan. The government had approved the strategy at its July 23 meeting, with the Ministry of Justice's approval.

Ilie Bolojan said the PSD's court challenge covered several government decisions, three of which concern obligations linked to non-reimbursable European funding. He estimated that the legal action puts a total of EUR 1.1 billion in funding at risk.

Although the government remains confident that the challenged decisions were legally adopted, Bolojan said it could not accept the risk of one of the measures being suspended before the courts issue a final ruling.

The dispute comes as Romania's Parliament holds an extraordinary session to adopt legislation required to meet PNRR milestones and secure further European funding. The government has sought to advance the legislation while facing political uncertainty following the withdrawal of the PSD from the governing coalition.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/George Calin)