Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Monday, during the meeting of the Inter-ministerial Committee for the Coordination of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, that there will be "political accountability" for ministers and state secretaries, including dismissals, if Romania loses money from the PNRR.
According to a Government press release, the committee analyzed, under the coordination of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan and the Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dragos Pislaru, the progress of the reforms and investments included in the payment requests, the problems encountered and solutions to remedy the, told Agerpres.
It concerns outstanding issues related to payment requests 3 and 4 sent by the Government to the European Commission, as well as those referring to payment requests 5 and 6 which are to be sent in the following period, the quoted source specifies.
Prime Minister Bolojan asked the ministries that coordinate reforms and investments to accelerate the pace of work and take measures to overcome any blockages, so that the commitments assumed by Romania are implemented by August 31.
He also asked that there be no more delays in the payment of invoices for works carried out within the projects.
"Accountability for non-fulfillment of commitments will be of two categories. There will be political accountability for ministers and state secretaries. I am referring including to dismissals if Romania loses money from the PNRR. In the case of directors and staff in the administration, we should no longer see them receiving European funds bonuses if our country loses money," Prime Minister Bolojan emphasized, according to the press release.
The head of the Executive highlighted that the progress of reforms and investments in the PNRR must be monitored periodically.
Dragos Pislaru analyzed "in detail" with the representatives of the ministries that have responsibilities in the implementation of the PNRR the status of targets and milestones.
"If last year we increased the absorption from the PNRR from approximately 4 billion euros to over 10.5 billion euros, in the next six months we must move to an even more intense pace to double this amount. I appeal to each ministry to send MIPE updated information on the progress made and a calendar of activities it intends to carry out by the end of the week in order to have the most up-to-date status of implementation," Pislaru stated, according to the press release.
During the meeting, it was emphasized that the funds necessary for Romania's contribution to the PNRR projects are and will continue to be ensured.
The State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Florin Zaharia, mentioned that the budget for 2026 will provide amounts 70% higher than last year, so that the national co-financing of the PNRR will reach approximately 73 billion RON.
"Local public authorities will have the largest budgets in history, which will allow them to focus on the implementation of PNRR projects," added the representative of the Ministry of Finance, quoted in the press release.
The meeting was attended, along with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan and Minister Dragos Pislaru, by Deputy Prime Ministers Oana Gheorghiu and Marian Neacsu, ministers and state secretaries from the ministries that have the capacity of coordinators of reforms and investments, permanent members and guests from the Inter-ministerial Committee for the Coordination of the PNRR.
The Government reminds that Romania has a total of six payment requests, and the last two - 5 and 6 - will be sent this year. The deadline for submitting the final payment request is September 30.
Payment request 5 will contain a number of 28 targets and milestones related to the non-reimbursable financial assistance component, and payment request 6 will have a number of 151 targets and milestones corresponding to both the non-reimbursable and reimbursable financial assistance components.
So far, Romania has exceeded more than half of the total value of the PNRR, respectively 50.08%, the Government explained. Thus, our country has received a total of 10,722,201,578 euros (of which 6,402,360,157 euros for the non-reimbursable financial assistance component and 4,319,841,421 euros for the reimbursable financial assistance component), an amount that includes the pre-financing and the amounts collected for payment requests 1 and 2 and partially for payment request 3, the press release states.
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