The Minister of European Funds, Dragoș Pîslaru, announced that Romania will have eight newly built hospitals by August 2026 through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
Initially, only five units had been selected, but the Government obtained additional support from the European Commission. „We managed to convince the Commission to finance another 260 million euros and three hospitals. These will be added to the existing five, which will be completed through the PNRR,” the minister stated.
Pîslaru explained that out of the initially proposed 19 hospitals, the European Commission approved only five following a strict evaluation. "There was a list of 19 hospitals, from which the European Commission, based on two elements: the stage of physical progress and the construction pace, selected five hospitals and said that the rest we are not capable of completing. It was a fair analysis," the minister said at Antena3.
Direct Pressure on Constructors
The minister specified that the Romanian authorities initially failed to convince Brussels, but the change in strategy made a difference.
"What the Government did, and I give credit to Alexandru Rogobete for this, went to the field, talked to the constructors, the Prime Minister gave a very clear indication to be in dialogue with the constructors: if they don't finish on time, they should complete the works with their own money," Pîslaru explained.
The three hospitals that recently received European funding are located in Bucharest, Constanța, and Târgu Mureș. "We managed to convince the Commission to finance three more hospitals: Zerlendi in Bucharest, the hospital in Constanța, and a flagship project for Romanian medicine in Târgu Mureș," the Minister of European Funds specified.
Six to Seven Other Hospitals, Waiting
For the remaining hospitals, the Government is preparing a new approach.
"For the other hospitals, we have started an initiative to include them in the health program, where we have around 500-600 million euros. This would allow us to take over six, seven hospitals from those that have some progress but are unconvincing for the Commission that we will complete them by 2026," Pîslaru said. These are units in a physical progress stage between 14 and 28%.
Pîslaru emphasized that the blockade is not of a financial nature. "I will be extremely honest: Romania's problem is not money. Since 2021, we have received enough money to build all the national interest hospitals."
In his opinion, the energy consumed in political competitions to include projects in the PNRR should have been directed towards construction. "Now we would have had hospitals," the minister concluded.