Prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said on February 21 that Romania will request the amendment of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNNR), and this will most likely be done in March, according to Spotmedia.ro. 

Ciolacu met in Brussels with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the priority topic was payment request number 3 and the renegotiation of the PNRR.

Finance minister Tanczos Barna, who accompanied Marcel Ciolacu in Brussels, assured that Romania would receive RON 47 billion (EUR 9.5 billion] under PNRR this year after RON 32 billion has already been received so far.

"Our interest is that this program will be a success for Romania, and yesterday [February 21], in Brussels, we received assurances from the European Commission that they will support us in this endeavor," Tanczos Barna wrote on Facebook.

"Greece and Italy have finished this discussion [on their PNRRs], and Romania is going to have it too. It's normal. I think that [this discussion will take place.] in March," PM Ciolacu stated.

With only 13% of the investments and reforms undertaken through the PNRR  completed and only a year and a half to complete the rest, the government seems set to miss the chance to bring a large part of the EUR 19 billion that has not yet been drawn into the country.

"I would say that avoiding recession this year is somehow related to the absorption of European money," said Adrian Codîrlașu, president of CFA Romania, quoted by Digi24.ro.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Marcel Ciolacu)