Romania stands to lose billions of euros from the European Union’s recovery funds as it was only able to complete one quarter of the designated porejcts one week before the end of the year.
Romania is entitled to €29.2 billion from the European Union’s under its National Recovery Plan (PNRR), which is money designed to offset the economic downturn caused by the pandemic and a great opportunity for Romania to further develop. Almost half of the money — €14.2 billion — comes in the form of grants while the other half — €14.9 billion — is in loans
Among other things, Romania planned to build about 400 kilometers of motorways from this funding source, which is much needed in the country, which has relatively weak infrastructure.
But the money is conditional on having viable projects, which are continuously monitored by the European Union. Romania, for example, has pledged to meet 21 of its targets by the end of this year. However, only six of them have been finalized so far, and according to the government, 15 others are “at different stages,” although according to the authorities, all are nearing completion.
Romania received the first €1.8 billion installment on Dec. 2, but the majority of projects suffered delays because of the country’s protracted domestic political crisis, which was eventually solved by setting up the country’s first grand coalition, led by retired Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Nicolae Ciucă on Nov. 25.
