PNRR: Romania requests €2.84 billion from the EU, with projects including 5 new hospitals

The Romanian Government has officially submitted Payment Request No. 5 under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), with a total value of €2.84 billion. Of this amount, €1.65 billion represents non-reimbursable grants, whilst €433 million consists of loans. The request covers 75 targets committed to under the plan – 21 reforms and 54 investments.

The submission of the request was made possible following the final decision to revise the PNRR, approved by the Council of the European Union. This is the penultimate payment request provided for under the plan, and once submitted, Romania's absorption rate for non-reimbursable funds will rise from 66% to 78% of the total grant allocation.

The Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dragoș Pîslaru, explained that the objective pursued was to keep Romania's total grant allocation of €13.57 billion intact.

"By submitting Payment Request 5, Romania reaches an absorption level of €10.6 billion out of the total €13.57 billion in grants. In practical terms, the maximum amount still up for discussion in the final request is just €2.58 billion on the grants side. We have managed to decouple Request 5 from Request 6, ensuring that these substantial funds enter the country in good time," the minister stated.

According to Pîslaru, the documentation has already been uploaded to the European FENIX system, and the European Commission has so far provided positive feedback on several evaluated components.

Romania could absorb over 97% of PNRR funds

Officials are estimating a realistic scenario in which Romania achieves a final absorption rate of 97.22% of the PNRR. However, this level depends on the adoption of key reforms in Parliament and on unblocking the sixth and final payment request.

Regarding large investments financed through grants, matters are progressing well: all five hospitals included in the grant component are on track to be completed. On the A7 Motorway, the first two sections already have completion acceptance certificates, whilst the third section is expected to be accepted by 31 August. Furthermore, the Education and Development portfolios hold contracting reserves of over 4,500,000,000 RON, providing a safety margin for the full settlement of works.

The approval of the sixth and final payment request – with a net value of €2.58 billion in grants and €1.76 billion in loans – now depends on Parliament adopting several reform packages:

• The Unified Pay Law – currently being worked on at technical secretariat level, with a view to being sent to political parties for a final version.
• The Hydrogen Law – currently in parliamentary procedure and proposed for debate in an extraordinary session.
• The Decarbonisation Project – the minister drew attention to the risk that a controversial amendment related to this project could jeopardise the European Commission's approval of the final request, and on these grounds called for its rejection.

"When this government took office, a scenario in which we would reach 97.22% of the PNRR seemed implausible. If these final committed reforms are passed by Parliament, Romania will conclude the PNRR with an enormous success in the area of non-reimbursable grants," Dragoș Pîslaru concluded.