The European Commission (EC) on Thursday issued a positive preliminary assessment of Romania's fourth payment request for EUR 2.62 billion under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.
"This important step relates to the delivery of the funds tied to this payment request, supporting sustainable forest management, decarbonisation of the transport and energy sectors, tax administration, public pensions, healthcare infrastructure, and social infrastructure for persons with disabilities. They also aim to strengthen government decision-making, advance digitalisation, improve the efficiency of the justice system, reinforce the fight against corruption, and support the development of the education system," the EC said in a press statement released on Thursday.
The Commission found that Romania has satisfactorily completed the 38 milestones and 24 targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision.
Flagship measures in this payment request include deploying a governmental cloud, of which the EC says that Romania has made significant progress in rolling out its governmental cloud infrastructure, with more than 30 public institutions already connected. The measure aims to modernise public administration by improving data sharing, while enabling more efficient and user-friendly public services.
In the case of decarbonising the transport and energy sectors: Romania has adopted measures to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy. These include introducing higher ownership taxes on the most polluting vehicles and progressively reducing reliance on coal-fired power generation.
As far as Reviewing the tax framework is concerned, Romania has introduced legislative changes to make its tax system fairer and more efficient, reducing administrative burden and improving tax compliance. By simplifying procedures and ensuring a more balanced distribution of the tax burden, the reform seeks to strengthen public finances while fostering a more business-friendly environment.
The EC has sent its preliminary assessment of Romania's fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee, which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. The payment to Romania can take place following the EFC's opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Commission later.
