PNRR renegotiation, discussed at President's January meeting with ministers; agreement not sought

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Tuesday that talks in January between President Klaus Iohannis and members of the Government focused on several topics, including the renegotiation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), adding that reaching an agreement on this topic was not in view, Agerpres reports.

Ciuca was asked in Parliament if he had discussed with the head of state the renegotiation of the PNRR in early January, when meetings with ministers took place.

"In the discussion that I had with the President, with each minister, several topics were discussed. There was this one, too. And then we were quite clear about the possibility of renegotiation. It's true, Mr. minister presented and then discussed with me that this percentage of 9.4% [GDP expenditure on pensions] would not be enough, we all agree with him, but we have decided to start the process of pension reform in general...," said the head of the Government.

Asked if the head of state had agreed to the PNRR's renegotiation at the time, the prime minister replied: "The issue of agreement or approval of this issue was not raised, it was just a matter of discussion."

Nicolae Ciuca stated that he had not met with the head of state these days and that they had not even discussed the renegotiation of the PNRR.

"It was a topic that was discussed very intensely and it is a topic that really deserves our interest, everyone's interest, but at the moment there have been and still are elements that are provided in PNNR for the reform of the pension system and we had a discussion with Mr. minister in the Interinstitutional Committee as well on this topic and we are going to follow that program in accordance with the objectives and targets of the PNRR," the prime minister added.

He was also asked if the Minister of Labor was free to start renegotiating the PNRR.

"In the discussions we had in Brussels on this topic, you saw that a deadline has been set so that, starting in 2023, certain elements of the PNRR can be re-discussed. Why 2023? Because, in the Commission, the discussion was as follows: let's see what happens and what you achieve by 2023, let the line you follow be very clear, so that you reach the objectives and targets of the PNRR, but after we have this stage review, we can discuss some of the milestones and targets in the PNRR. However, the Government is committed to making this reform so that Romanians can benefit from the revenue they deserve," Ciuca said.

The Prime Minister said that there is currently no analysis on the increase in pensions in autumn.

He also added that there was no discussion of zero VAT on basic food next year.