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Romania has fully achieved all the milestones in its National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) that it has undertaken together with the European Commission, Economy Minister Florin Spataru told a specialist conference on Tuesday.
"We are discussing the National Recovery and Resilience Plan at a time when we have already moved through two stages, two quarters in which, as you can see, the Romanian government kept its promises. We have achieved all the milestones we have set. The economic component should probably have been much more present in such a plan, but we know very well that it was made in a first stage in 2020, after which it was revised, approved by the European Commission, and I think it is normal for the Romanian government, whatever it may be, to keep its promises, because it is ultimately our duty as a country and as a member state to show that we can carry out a plan that is challenging to many European countries. This is a two-pronged national recovery and resilience plan. The first prong is reform and it is there that we have fulfilled our obligation and drawn attention to some objectives that should be re-discussed and that we should consider moving forward. On the other hand, there is the investment component. From that perspective, I can tell you that what happened at the Ministry of Economy is that we are one of the first ministries to start that programme on micro-electronics and that we managed to complete it in record time," said Spataru.
The minister added that that Romania could have lost 500 million euros under PNRR had the micro-electronics programme not been completed on schedule, as by the deadline rolled in "absolutely nothing had been done."
"We would have had the misfortune of being unable to draw in the first 500 million euros of this National Recovery and Resilience Plan, because we had a deadline of February 25 and absolutely nothing had been done of that programme. From December to the end of February, we were able to complete the evaluation and send these programmes to the European Commission, with eight direct, eligible beneficiaries and 37 indirect beneficiaries," said Spataru.
According to him, PNRR will have a major impact on the national economy, with energy transition, digital transformation and education being the main components thereof.
The European Commission positively assessed Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNNR) in September 2021. The plan will include investment on European funds exceeding 29.2 billion euros designed for viable reforms and projects for strategic segments and industries.
Central and local administration officials, government officials, private companies and economic stakeholders attended a conference on Tuesday on opportunities and funding mechanisms under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
AGERPRES
