The Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dragoș Pîslaru, announced that Romania will submit around December 15th the payment request number 4 from the NRRP.
He states that this is expected to be processed very quickly, and the funds – amounting to 2.62 billion euros in the form of grants – could be disbursed in February.
Pîslaru explains that the documentation is already prepared, and the only remaining step is the Constitutional Court's decision on December 10 regarding the pollution tax, part of the milestone included in this request. The Minister says, "probably around December 15th, we will submit payment request 4" and emphasizes the accelerated pace at which it is expected to be approved.
"It will probably be the fastest payment request in the history of the NRRP because, as things are done, you don't send things and then see what opinion the European Constitution wants to have, you pre-negotiate everything, you know exactly what you're sending, why you're sending, how you're sending, and I expect that somewhere in February these 2.62 billion euros in grant money will come in," Minister Pîslaru said.
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Situation of payment request number 3
Referring to payment request 3, which is still under suspension, Pîslaru admits that there are difficulties related to unfulfilled milestones, including the reform of magistrates' service pensions. He states that there is a "significant risk" that a portion of the amount may not be approved.
The Minister estimates that Romania could receive "at least 500 million euros" out of the total of 860 million related to the request, but specifies that authorities are still trying to find arguments to convince the European Commission that Romania expressed its will in time, along with the new project that is to be retransmitted after CSM's approval. However, Pîslaru warns that the situation remains difficult: "It is a ruse, so there is probably a significant risk there."
The statements were made on Tuesday, during the ROINVEST conference, organized by the News.ro press agency, with the support of Team Innovation Media and Plurivox. The main partner of the event is Globalworth, and partners include the Romanian Banking Association, Salt Bank, TeraPlast, UniCredit Bank, and Auchan.