Romania will lose 231 million euros from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) after failing to meet the deadline for the reform of judges’ pensions.
The confirmation comes from the Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dragoș Pîslaru.
The milestone regarding judges' pensions declared unmet
The Minister explained, in an interview with Digi24, that during the discussions in Brussels regarding payment requests three and four from the PNRR, the European Commission "very clearly" stated that Romania did not meet milestone 215, related to the reform of judges' pensions.
"The European Commission has stated very clearly that the milestone regarding judges' pensions is not met," stated Dragoș Pîslaru.
"231 million euros are considered lost"
The Minister emphasized that the deadline for promulgating the law was November 28, and Romania failed to demonstrate subsequently that the reform would be implemented.
"At this moment, the 231 million euros are considered lost by the European Commission, because by November 28 Romania did not promulgate the law, and in the subsequent discussions period, it could not prove that the law was promulgated," explained Pîslaru.
He added that the situation directly affects Romania's credibility at the European level. "Even after the November 28 deadline, we could not demonstrate that we will implement this reform. Our credibility at the European level has been affected," the Minister pointed out.
The Constitutional Court and legislative deadlock
Dragoș Pîslaru attributed the loss of funds to the repeated delays of the Romanian Constitutional Court, as well as to opposition from within the judicial system.
"There was practically an agreement with the European Commission that the draft law would solve this milestone, and the claims that this reform was unnecessary were false," said the Minister, referring to publicly expressed positions by CSM and some judges.
Bolojan also warned: "The probability of losing the money is very high"
Premier Ilie Bolojan also confirmed Wednesday evening, in a press conference at the Government, that milestone 215 in the PNRR regarding judges' pensions is considered unmet by the European Commission. "From the discussions our teams had at the European Commission last week, at this moment the Commission considers the milestone not met. The idea that it was met is false," said the Prime Minister.
Bolojan announced that on Thursday he will inform the Romanian Constitutional Court about the consequences of repeated delays and warned that, in the absence of a quick decision, "the probability of losing the money is very high."
The Head of the Government emphasized that the deadlock directly affects the state's ability to receive the 2.6 billion euros from the payment request and to finance infrastructure projects without delays.
Lost funds will be covered from the national budget
Asked about the next steps, the Minister specified that Romania can no longer go to Brussels with hypotheses and that the reform must be completed before any further discussion.
"Romania has gone to the European Commission with hypotheses too many times," said Pîslaru, emphasizing that the "professional" approach is the effective adoption of the reform.
Regarding the budgetary impact, the Minister explained that the lost amount will have to be covered from the state budget for the investment projects to continue.
"If we lose this amount, we will have to cover 231 million from the national budget to respect our investment projects," stated the Minister.
The law on the reform of judges' pensions was adopted through the government's assumption of responsibility under Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, after receiving a negative opinion from CSM. The Constitutional Court has repeatedly postponed its decision, making the law's entry into force on January 1, 2026, impossible.
The next CCR session is scheduled for February 11, but the deadline assumed in the PNRR has already passed, and the European Commission considers the milestone lost.