MEP Corina Cretu said on Friday that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) is a historic opportunity for Romania and that she hopes that the funds allocated will be spent until 2026, so that they will not be returned.
„In the ECOFIN Council, the ministers of economy and finance of the EU countries reached an agreement that the post-pandemic recovery fund, also called NextGenerationEU, will not be extended beyond 2026. This means that all projects in the PNRR must be implemented by that year and the allocated funds spent (…). The PNRR is a historic opportunity for Romania and I hope with all my heart that we will not wake up in 2026 that we have not used the money allocated and that we have to send it back to the Commission,” says MEP Corina Cretu, in a post on her Facebook page.
The former European commissioner for Regional Policy pointed out that the third application for payment under the PNRR, amounting to 2.7 billion euros, was submitted by Romania in December 2023 and that it has not yet been approved, although the deadline for evaluation set in the regulation expired on 15 February.
„Currently, we have received approximately 9.4 billion euros from the PNRR, with a 32% collection rate. In 2024, among the investments and reforms that should take place there are: equipping 75,000 classrooms with furniture, 1,200 electric buses to transport students, 10,000 science laboratories, at least 25 public hospitals will benefit from equipment and materials that help reduce the risk of nosocomial infections, investments in 25 intensive care units, and 50% of investments in rail and road infrastructure must be completed,” the MEP said.
Corina Cretu said that in 2022, when the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism was negotiated in the European Parliament, she tabled amendments to extend the deadline for the implementation of the PNRR money to 2026, the initial deadline proposed by the Commission being 2025.
„I did this because, even when I was managing European funds as a commissioner, I was aware of the slow implementation of projects in certain member states, including Romania,” MEP Corina Cretu wrote.
AGERPRES
