The war in Ukraine changed completely not only Romania’s but also Europe’s economic outlook, and this may require a fundamental revision of the Relaunch and Resilience plans - particularly in the case of Romania - Alina Mungiu Pippidi argues in a column published by RomaniaCurata.ro.

“Romania has opted for ‘a double PNRR’ [including the highest possible volume of loans, in addition to grants], based on expectations of easy repayment of the debt from the budget revenues boosted amid robust annual economic growth of 5%,” Pippidi reminds.

The problem is not the pension limitations inked in the PNRR - which has been the key topic related to amending PNRR on the public agenda - but the PNRR as a whole, as it needs to be revisited in its integrality, she argues.

With the natural gas and oil being phased off faster than envisaged by the Green Deal, Romania’s plans to build natural gas distribution networks and motorways may be worth being abandoned, Pippidi argues, pointing out that replacing them with other strategies is much more difficult.

An option would be slashing the loan component of the PNRR. Ironically, instead, the grants component was slashed significantly (by some EUR 2 bln - or more than 10% of total envisaged grants or 0.8% of GDP) as Romania’s economic growth last year exceeded EC’s initial expectations. 

iulian@romania-insider.com

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