The payment request number 3 of the National Recovery and Resilience Fund (NRRP) is delayed compared to the stage in which we should be and it is essential that 2024 is used to speed up the implementation of the Recovery Plan, warned Celine Gauer, director general SG RECOVER – Task Force for Recovery and Resilience within the General Secretariat of the European Commission.
The representatives of the European Commission are paying a visit to Bucharest, between March 18-21, and the discussions are focused on Romania’s fiscal situation and payment request number 3 of the NRRP.
“Regarding the recovery, Romania, like the other countries, shows that the recovery worked well, quickly, a positive aspect. The plan, if we look, addresses all the main challenges for the country. The plan, the concept of the plan was very good. But what we see now, and this is my main message this morning, we are at a crossroads. 2024 is an absolutely essential year for the country. A year that will determine the country’s success or failure. I said that we reimbursed 9 billion euros for Romania and it is true, but we have to see what Romania has achieved with these funds. We were talking about 2.6 billion euros. Many payments were pre-financing, the payment was made, but on the condition that the whole plan is implemented, otherwise the money will be returned. So yes, it’s good, it supports the economy, but be careful, because the condition is the completion of the implementation of the plan. And how is it going? We’ve reached payment request number 3, which is good, but it’s actually late compared to where we should be, and it’s essential that we use 2024 to speed up this implementation,” said Celine Gauer.
The post EC Warns: Romania at Risk of Losing Billions in EU Funds from NRRP appeared first on The Romania Journal.
