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The European Commission confirmed in a release on Monday evening having received Romania's official National Recovery and Resilience Plan, noting that the proposed initiatives touch on all seven flagship areas of EU policies.
"We received Romania's Recovery & Resilience Plan. It includes reforms & investments to support the green and digital transitions, smart growth, health and resilience, and policies for the next generation. #NexGenerationEU will help build greener, more sustainable future in Romania," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.
In his turn, European Commission Executive Vice President for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis wrote: "Congratulations to Romania for submitting its RRF Recovery and Resilience Plan. The RRF will help us emerge stronger from the crisis, make EU economies and societies more sustainable and resilient, and secure the green and digital transitions," Dombrovskis noted.
The presentation of Romania's plan follows intensive dialogue between the Commission and the Romanian authorities over the past number of months, the EU Executive said in the release.
The plan sets out the reforms and public investment projects that Romania plans to implement with the support of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), and is structured around six pillars: the green transition, digital transformation, smart growth, social and territorial cohesion, health and resilience, and policies for the next generation. It includes measures on sustainable transport, education, healthcare, building renovation and the digitalisation of public administration, with projects covering the entire lifetime of the RRF until 2026.
Romania has requested 14.3 billion euro in grants and 15 billion euros in loans under the RRF.
The Commission will now assess Romania's plan based on the eleven criteria set out in the Regulation and translate their contents into legally binding acts. This assessment will notably include a review of whether the plans contribute to effectively addressing all or a significant subset of challenges identified in the relevant country-specific recommendations issued in the context of the European Semester. The Commission will also assess whether the plan dedicates at least 37% of expenditure to investments and reforms that support climate objectives, and 20% to the digital transition.
The Council will have, as a rule, four weeks to adopt the Commission proposal for a Council Implementing Decision.
The Commission has so far received 22 recovery and resilience plans from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Ireland, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, and Sweden.
NextGenerationEU is a 750 billion euro temporary recovery instrument designed to help repair the immediate economic and social damage brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. According to the EU, post-COVID-19 Europe will be greener, more digital, more resilient and better prepared for the current and forthcoming challenges.
The Recovery and Resilience Mechanism is the key instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU, providing up to 672.5 billion euros to support investment and reforms (in 2018 prices). This breaks down into grants worth a total of 312.5 billion euros and loans worth 360 billion euros. The aim is to mitigate the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to make European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities offered by the transition to a green and digital economy.
