The European Commission (EC) announced on Monday, December 23, that it disbursed payments under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) to Czechia, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Romania, totaling EUR 26.8 billion in loans and grants. Under this latest disbursement, Romania received EUR 37.05 million as part of its second payment request.

By comparison, according to the EC announcement, Czechia received its third payment for EUR 1.7 billion, Germany received its second payment for EUR 13.5 billion, Italy got its sixth payment for EUR 8.7 billion, and Portugal received its fifth payment for EUR 2.9 billion.

Romania submitted its second request for payment on December 15, 2022, covering 51 milestones and targets. The Commission adopted a positive preliminary assessment of all but two milestones in September 2023. Milestones 129 and 133, relating to energy investments, were not satisfactorily fulfilled, leading to a suspension of EUR 53.4 million, the EC said.

“After Romania provided additional information and made progress on these milestones, the Commission has now unlocked a gross amount of EUR 42.59 million. This includes EUR 17.78 million related to milestone 133, which has been fully met, and EUR 24.8 million related to milestone 129, where progress has been acknowledged, although the milestone is still not considered satisfactorily fulfilled,” reads the press release.

After deducting pre-financing, the disbursement to Romania is EUR 37.05 million.

In parallel, due to milestone 129 not being fully met, the European Commission has reduced the overall loan amount available to Romania by EUR 10.77 million. 

To date, Romania has received a total of EUR 9.4 billion out of the EUR 28.53 billion allocated to the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Ruletkka/Dreamstime.com)