The European Commission approved the proposal to renegotiate the NRRP on Monday, and formal approval by the Council of the European Union is expected on August 7, according to the interim Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dragos Pislaru.
"Good news, exclusively, from Brussels: the European Commission has just approved the proposal for the renegotiation of the NRR[ today. The last step is next: formal approval by the Council of the European Union, on August 7. After months of work to save as many investments and as much European money for Romania as possible, we have reached the point where everything now depends solely on Romania's capacity to deliver the promised reforms. And, unfortunately, this is where the film breaks down. While in Brussels we are achieving fantastic results, in Bucharest, Mr. Sorin Grindeanu announces that the PSD will not vote on the salary law and threatens to sabotage the reform regarding integrity in the public service as well," the minister wrote on Facebook, agerpres reports.
According to him, the reform on the unitary salary was successively postponed and pushed from one payment request to another, and the salary reform was not implemented for years.
"Even Mr. Grindeanu admits today that the milestone was moved from payment request 3 to payment request 6. For years the reform has not been done. Now, when it must finally be delivered, we are told again: we are not voting," says Pislaru.
He also accuses that, on the subject of integrity in public office, the PSD is trying to move the discussion to Dominic Fritz and other individual cases instead of discussing how the National Integrity Agency can be strengthened.
"It is a diversion. The reform is not about a man, a party or a file. It is about the capacity of the Romanian state to have clear rules and efficient institutions to defend integrity in public office," the quoted source emphasized.
Dragos Pislaru also states that on the urban planning reform, Romania has wasted years in blockages and conflicts regarding the competences to issue building permits, including in the dispute between the PSD sector administrations and the City Hall of the Capital, instead of modernizing the legislation and reducing bureaucracy.
The interim minister states that on decarbonization, the reforms were also pushed until the last moment, and Romania ended up negotiating under the pressure of deadlines and the risk of losing European funds.
"You cannot demand billions of euros from the European Union and, at the same time, refuse the reforms to which Romania has committed itself. You cannot say that you want the NRRP, but reject the milestones in the NRRP. You cannot applaud European money and sabotage the conditions assumed by Romania to receive it.(...) In all these years, the PSD has practiced the policy of delay, postponing the decision each time precisely for fear of not assuming any responsibility.
The government led by Ilie Bolojan pushed the reforms forward with all its might, we assumed the difficult decisions and we proved that we can have responsible politicians in the Government, who act in the interest of the country. The NRRP does not belong to a party. It does not belong to a minister. It does not belong to a government. It is a plan for the development of Romania: highways, hospitals, schools, digitalization, energy, modernization of the administration and billions of euros that "changes the lives of Romanians for the better. So I make a very clear call for responsibility to the PSD: do not put, gentlemen from the PSD, the future of Romania in danger for your petty political agenda," Dragos Pislaru also wrote on the social media.
PSD President, Sorin Grindeanu, declared on Monday, after meeting with President Nicusor Dan, that the strategy of the dismissed Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, "to govern through Parliament and put pressure on the PSD votes, is completely wrong" and stated that the PSD cannot agree with the use of the PNRR for "the obscure interests of some right-wing leaders".
"Therefore, the strategy of the dismissed Prime Minister Bolojan to continue governing through Parliament and putting pressure on the PSD votes is completely wrong. In this regard, I told them that the PSD cannot agree with using the NRRP as a media front for the obscure interests of some right-wing leaders. For example, we are totally against Mr. Fritz solving his integrity problems by amending the law. Specifically, we will not accept that in the working group on the issue of the milestone referring to integrity in public office, the USR introduces all kinds of texts that would solve the personal problems of Fritz, Clotilde Armand and other USR members definitively convicted by the High Court," added the PSD leader.
Grindeanu also said that the PSD will not vote for a salary law that is not yet publicly transparent.
"We also announced that we will not simply vote for a salary law, which is still not transparent today and where consultation with unions and employers was a sham. That is precisely why we will meet with all the union confederations today and with employers on Wednesday, because it is a subject far too important for Romania for us to wait for Mr. Pislaru or Mr. Bolojan to send us a bad or unenforceable law. And for those from the PNL and USR who keep shouting that this law should have been made already, I remind them that during Nicolae Ciuca's time, this milestone was moved from payment request 3 to request 6, because the former PNL finance ministers said that they did not have the money to implement it. This is the truth that you can verify very easily. I conclude by warning them again "I urge those from PNL and USR not to use the NRRP to privatize profitable Romanian companies in a non-transparent manner and at a super discount or to carry out a so-called digitalization with dedication for a certain foreign concern. These are unacceptable things for PSD," Grindeanu said.
The leaders of the former governing coalition met with President Nicusor Dan, Monday morning, at the Cotroceni Palace.
