The Council of Ministers of Finance of the European Union (EcoFin) is set to endorse today the European Commission’s recommendation that Romania has not taken effective measures to reduce the budget deficit, despite already being in an excessive deficit procedure.
The information appears in official documents of the European Commission, and this finding paves the way for possible sanctions, including suspending access to PNRR and cohesion funds, if the country does not intervene quickly to correct fiscal imbalances, writes Profit.ro.
Romania's budget deficit was 9.3% of GDP in 2023, the highest in the EU.
Romania is represented at today's crucial meeting only by a State Secretary from the Ministry of Finance, after Minister Tanczos Barna decided not to attend because... he will no longer be the Minister of Finance in the next government.
And now an unexpected deadlock has stalled negotiations for a future government.
Limited time to avoid sanctions: measures must be adopted by June 30
And this is happening while the European Commission has made it clear that budget adjustment measures must be adopted by law or ordinance and sent to Brussels by no later than June 30 for review by EU technical committees.
A positive evaluation at the next EcoFin meeting on July 8 (the last before the summer break) could help Romania avoid sanctions and achieve a favorable positioning in the ratings assessments by agencies in August and September.
If Romania does not submit concrete measures by the end of June, it risks missing the necessary technical meetings and entering autumn with a still critical fiscal situation under EU pressure. The next EcoFin meeting is scheduled for October 10.