Boloș, on the possible suspension of European funds: I hope we will take the necessary steps

Minister of Investments and European Projects Marcel Boloș declared on Thursday, after the Government meeting, that Romania must implement the fiscal reform committed through the PNRR in order to continue implementing the program under normal conditions.

„I hope that we will not end up in this situation (suspension of European funds – n.r.) and that we will take the necessary steps so that Romania can protect its financial interests,” said Boloș, referring to the provisions of the regulation on situations of excessive budget deficit.

The minister explained that the regulation stipulates that „in a situation of excessive budget deficit, the Commission may propose to the Council the suspension of new commitments for the PNRR”, but stressed that Romania is now focusing on concluding the renegotiation.

“The fiscal reform is a firm commitment of Romania and, whether we like it or not, we must implement it,” Bolos stressed, noting that this commitment was part of payment request number 3 and was taken over in the fiscal plan.

Bolos announced that the Government has approved the continuation of the renegotiation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and the inter-ministerial coordination committee of the PNRR will take place, where the situation of payment request number 4 will be discussed in detail.

“And, as I mentioned, with the advancement of a number of 55 milestones and targets, of course, the objective for modifying the PNRR is to have the Ecofin Council decision in July,” the official said, adding that the value of the payment request may increase from 2.7 billion euros to approximately 5.7 billion euros.

To date, Romania has received 9.2 billion euros in pre-financing and the first two payment requests from the PNRR, and is set to receive another 1.3 billion euros at the end of May from payment request number 3.

Boloș called for „responsibility and wisdom from all decision-makers” to continue the renegotiation of the PNRR „under normal conditions”, stressing that „Romania’s seriousness and credibility before the European Commission authorities should not be tarnished”.