Romania will receive in full 2.62 billion euros from the NRRP for payment request 4. The Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dragoș Pîslaru, announces that the evaluation by the European Commission has been completed without issues, and the funds will be granted in full, unlike previous requests, where there were suspensions.
Pîslaru stated that Romania received confirmation from Brussels, following a meeting with Celine Gauer, responsible for coordinating the NRRP at the European level, that all milestones and targets related to payment request 4 have been met.
"We have confirmation that the analyses regarding the achievement of milestones and targets on payment request no. 4 have been completed, so on payment request no. 4 we will have a clean request of 2.62 billion euros," the minister said.
According to him, the payment formalization will take place in the immediate future.
Contrast with previous requests: suspended funds
The minister emphasized the major difference from previous payment requests. Apart from request 1, Romania had issues with requests 2 and 3, where the European Commission suspended payments due to the failure to implement certain reforms.
For request 3, submitted late in December 2024, Brussels blocked a portion of the funds, citing lack of progress in key areas such as special pensions, the functioning of AMEPIP, or appointments to energy and transportation boards.
Negotiations unblocked for additional funds
Pîslaru also announced the completion of negotiations with Norway and the countries of the European Economic Area - Iceland and Liechtenstein - for additional funding of 497.6 million euros.
He explained that discussions were stalled at the beginning of the Government's mandate led by Ilie Bolojan, due to an attempt to overcommit funds. "We have resolved this issue," the minister said.
Payment request 4 is the first one fully prepared by the current executive and comes, according to the minister, without corrections or suspensions.
Pîslaru also states that the next payment request within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the fifth one, will most likely be submitted at the end of June. The minister indicates that he will not submit the last two payment requests of the NRRP until he is certain that all necessary documents are in place.
Romania has lost nearly half a billion euros from the NRRP
Romania has recovered nearly 351 million euros from the initially suspended amounts related to payment request number 3 of the NRRP, but is losing around 459 million euros. And this is due to delayed, incomplete, or poorly executed reforms in previous years, announced Minister Dragoș Pîslaru on Friday.