Prime minister Nicolae Ciucă officially informed on October 26 the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, that Romania wants the renegotiation of some targets and benchmarks under the National Relaunch and Resilience Plan (PNRR), under which EUR 27.2 bln of grants and loans are being disbursed to the country for economic recovery.

Ciucă, currently visiting Bruxelles, met von der Leyen to address Romania’s Schengen membership, PNRR, the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), and the situation in Ukraine and Moldova.

As regards the amendments to PNRR envisaged by the Romanian authorities, there is the elimination of the 9.4% cap on the public pension expenditures, a more flexible calendar for the phasing off of the production of coal-based energy and adjustments to some transportation infrastructure projects.

PNRR should also be revised as a result of the new RePower EU plan, which prioritizes the response to the energy crisis, and of the downside revision of the grants made available to Romania in line with the stronger-than-expected GDP growth this year.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Gov.ro)