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Romania didn't register any progress on the fiscal framework, minimum wage setting, minimum inclusion income, predictability of decision-making and the corporate governance of state-owned enterprises, the European Commission shows in the Country Report Romania published on Wednesday.
On the other hand, the country registered limited progresses on tax compliance and collection, upskilling and education, social dialogue, outpatient care, public investment prioritisation and public procurement, the document mentions.
According to the Community executive, since the start of the European semester, in 2011, 59 percent of all country-specific recommendations addressed to Romania have recorded at least "some progress," whereas 41 percent of country-specific recommendations recorded "limited" or "no progress."
Overall, Romania has advanced in implementing its country-specific recommendations since 2013. However, the reform momentum appears to have waned over the past few years. In several policy areas subject to country-specific recommendations action has slowed down or even been reversed and significant efforts are still needed to achieve tangible results.
In respect to fiscal adjustment, the EC underscores that Romania has pursued a significant fiscal consolidation which led to achieving its medium-term objective in 2014 and 2015. "However, since 2016 the authorities have been pursuing an expansionary fiscal policy that led to a substantial departure from that objective," the Country Report shows.
The Commission mentions that the progress registered on the labour market and the reform of the social assistance system stalled after 2016.
"The minimum wage continues to be set by the government in an ad-hoc manner, social dialogue remains ineffective, while the role of certain important institutions has been recently weakened. The implementation of the minimum inclusion income law, adopted in 2016, stalled in 2017 and is now expected to be enforced only as of April 2019," the EC report underscores.
According to the document, the system is faced with multiple challenges. Progress of reforms in key areas such as the development of integrated community care centres and the building of regional hospitals has been delayed, while in other priority areas the measures taken by the authorities appear insufficient. The administrative capacity of the Ministry of Health continues to be very limited. The shift to outpatient care remains at an early stage, with most efforts concentrated on hospital care, the quoted source explains.
The Community Executive draws attention over the manner in which public policies continue to be highly unpredictable. "Important and sometimes complex legislative changes are still adopted without proper consultation of stakeholders, while impact assessments are often lacking. This often results in additional legislative changes being necessary to correct the unintended effects of emergency ordinances adopted on very short notice. Contradictory public statements about the future of important reforms also contribute to the overall climate of unpredictability of policy making, negatively affecting the business environment," the document shows.
The European Commission published on Wednesday the 28 Country Reports of the analysis called "European Semester - Winter Package: Assessing Member States' progress on economic and social priorities."
