Romanian executive to submit fifth payment request under Recovery and Resilience Facility
Update: Romania officially submitted payment request no. 5 under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan on Friday evening, August 14. The request, worth EUR 2.84 billion, was announced by European Projects and Investments minister Dragoș Pîslaru.
“CP5 includes 75 targets and milestones (21 reforms, 54 investments), totaling a net value of EUR 1.65 billion in non-reimbursable European funds (grants) and EUR 433 million under the loan component. It is the penultimate payment request under the PNRR. With this submission, we reach 78% absorption on the grant side. When I took office last year, we were at 47%, accumulated over 4 and a half years,” Pîslaru wrote on Saturday on his Facebook page.
According to the minister, over the past year, fund absorption increased by 31%, while Romania fully retained the allocation of EUR 13.57 billion for grants.
Initial story: The Romanian government is set to submit the fifth payment request under the EU-backed Recovery and Resilience Facility, or PNRR, according to an announcement from European Investments and Projects minister Dragoș Pîslaru.
Payment no. 5 is worth EUR 2.84 billion, and is the penultimate request that Romania will submit within the PNRR. Once approved, the fifth payment will bring Romania’s absorption rate of PNRR-related grants to 78%, from 66% currently.
“One final request remains, request no. 6, worth EUR 2.58 billion in grants and EUR 1.76 billion in loans. From a total of EUR 13.57 billion allocated at the time the PNRR was signed, we will reach EUR 10.56 billion after request no. 5,” Pîslaru said during a press conference.
Initially, the European Commission planned for a single final payment request, reuniting the now separated requests no. 5 and 6, the minister noted.
The final payment request will be submitted at the end of September, and with it “we could reach 97.2% of the PNRR,” he said, referring to the grants component.
“47% was the percentage of the PNRR when I came to the ministry, after four years since the program was launched. The annual average was about 10.4% of the PNRR. In one year and two months, under the Bolojan government, we added 31% of the PNRR,” the minister also said.
Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan is financed through EUR 21.41 billion under the EU mechanism, including EUR 13.57 billion in grants and EUR 7.84 billion in loans. The fourth payment request, worth EUR 2.62 billion, was approved by the European Commission in May of this year.
(Photo source: gov.ro)
