Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said on Monday evening that, in the coming days, the Government would send to Brussels a formal request for EU funds that would be used to renovate and improve the conditions in local prisons.

“I believe that this is an opportunity that we should not miss,” Grindeanu said at local TV stations Antena 3.

However, he also added that this would not solve the problems the Romanian prisons are facing, especially the one related to overcrowding. He said that alternative measures should be taken to solve these issues, such as granting pardon to prisoners.

Almost three weeks ago, the Government put up for public debate an emergency ordinance that would have granted pardon to thousands of prisoners, but then decided to let the Parliament vote on such a bill. The ordinance, which was put up for debate together with another controversial ordinance that would have brought changes to the Penal Code and partly decriminalized the abuse of office offense, triggered massive protests in Romania. The bill amending the criminal law was repealed however, a few days after the Government adopted it in a late meeting.

Sorin Grindeanu also said at Antena 3 that Frans Timmermans, the First Vice-President of the European Commission, knew the Romanian prisons’ problems as he had made some visits to local jails in the past, and offered to help the previous Government led by Dacian Ciolos to solve these issues with EU funds, but the Government refused.

This is was not the first time when the current Prime Minister attacks the former Prime Minister on the EU funds subject. He repeatedly called the former cabinet “the zero Government,” referring to the fact that, according to the information he has, the former cabinet attracted zero EU funds last year. He again touched this subject on Monday evening at Antena 3, saying that President Klaus Iohannis may be “skeptical” about the 2017 state budget proposed by the current Government because the previous cabinet’s achievements related to EU funds absorption was zero. By comparison, the Government led by Grindeanu plans to attract EUR 5.2 billion worth of EU funds this year.

The President promulgated the law that sets the state budget for 2017 last week, but added that he keeps his objections related to the figures on which the budget is built. He said that the budget revenues are “over-optimistic” and the expenses are high.

Social Democrat leader and former Romanian PM clash over “hole in budget”

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com