The European Commission (EC) has given a positive preliminary assessment of the key milestone in Romania’s third payment request regarding the reduction of the special tax regime for micro-enterprises, according to an EC statement released on Tuesday.
So far, 68 out of the 74 milestones and targets have been positively assessed under this request which totals to EUR 2 billion (net of pre-financing) under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.
Romania’s third payment request includes key steps in 37 reforms and 17 investments aimed at driving positive change for citizens and businesses, focusing on green and digital transitions, sustainable transport, energy renovation, tax and pension, the business environment, urban mobility, tourism and culture, healthcare, social reforms, good governance, education as well as water waste and forestry management.
Flagship measures in this payment request include: electricity market reform and special tax regime reform for micro-enterprises. A new legislative framework to boost energy efficiency investments in industry is now in effect. It removes barriers to energy performance contracting, introduces market surveillance and sets new standards for energy efficiency and green financial instruments.
In the case of special tax regime reform for micro-enterprises, a new law gradually reduces the special tax regime, creating a fairer, simpler and more transparent micro-enterprise tax system.
As far as building efficiency investments are concerned, contracts were signed for the energy efficiency renovation and integrated renovation of residential and public buildings.
On Tuesday, the EC also found that milestone 215 (Entry into force of the legislative framework for reducing expenditure on special pensions) is not fulfilled at this stage.
This milestone adds to five others from Romania’s third payment request that the EC assessed as unmet in its Communication of 15 October 2024.
These milestones include investments for upgrading railway infrastructure and developing the underground transport network in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca, as well as reforms for performance-based management in transport, improving corporate governance of state-owned energy companies, and operationalising corporate governance policies for state-owned enterprises.
As a result, the EC is activating the „payment suspension” procedure, as outlined in the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) Regulation. This procedure gives Romania more time to meet these outstanding milestones while still receiving partial payment for the milestones that have been successfully completed.
The EC has sent its positive preliminary assessment of the fulfilled milestones and targets to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion.
At the same time, the EC informed Romania why it considers milestone 215 unsatisfied. Romania has one month to submit its observations to the EC. After receiving the EFC’s opinion and reviewing Romania’s comments, the EC will adopt a payment decision, triggering the payment to Romania. If the EC, after reviewing Romania’s observations, maintains its assessment that certain milestones are unmet, part of the payment will be suspended. The suspended amount will be determined by applying the EC’s methodology for payment suspensions (outlined in annex II of the communication published on February 21, 2023), which applies to all member states. From that moment, Romania will have a period of six months to fulfil the outstanding milestones. At the end of this period, the EC will assess whether these milestones have been satisfactorily fulfilled. If so, it will lift the suspension and proceed with the payment of the suspended amount.
AGERPRES
