Romania has begun the final renegotiation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), so that it can fully collect the remaining EUR 4.9 billion in grants, by prioritising projects that have been completed or are in an advanced stage of implementation, the minister of investments and European projects, Dragoş Pîslaru, said after the government meeting on May 14.

He also expressed confidence that a large part of the loan amount could be attracted, as all projects are already included in the budget.

According to minister Pislaru, Romania has submitted a first draft regarding the amendments to the PNRR to the European Commission, with negotiations to be completed by May 31, Economica.net reported.

“This will involve some shifts from the loan area to the grant area, as was done last summer on a much larger scale. This time it will be a more surgical measure through which we ensure that all the projects that are completed or that are almost ready, for which we have certainties, will allow us to cover the amount of grants. The deadline for these negotiations is May 31, so we have two weeks to negotiate these issues with the European Commission. Late last night, according to the agreement reached with the European Commission, we sent a first draft regarding these changes, and next week we will explain and negotiate them,” mentioned Dragoş Pîslaru.

He expressed confidence that Romania has enough projects to fully access the non-reimbursable funds.

"On May 22, I believe that a physical meeting will take place in Brussels, and then, the time remaining until May 31 will be just right to reach a final version on the investment side. I am discussing with quite a lot of confidence that we have projects that are sufficient for us to be able to access the entire part of the non-reimbursable funds," the dignitary added.

He also expressed confidence that a large part of the loan amount could be attracted, as all projects are already included in the budget.

Failure to get the loans under RRF would generate only losses due to the higher interest paid by the state on the market (compared to the preferential rate charged by the Commission).

"On the loans side, things are currently such that here too we are confident that we can withdraw the largest part of the amount. Regarding loans, one thing is very clear: all projects are already included in the budget. In the worst case, if any amount were to be lost from the loans side, it would only be the difference in interest rates between the PNRR and the loans that the Ministry of Finance is currently borrowing with, but the assumption we are starting from, and we have some scenarios on the table here, is that we are not losing money on the loans side either. And this is what we have sent to the European Commission, and this is our negotiating position," said Pîslaru.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Mfe.gov.ro)