Romania has started the final renegotiation of its National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) to ensure it can draw the remaining €4.9 billion in grants by prioritising completed or near-completed investment projects, Minister Dragos Pislaru said on Thursday after the government meeting.

He noted that Romania has already sent the European Commission a first draft of proposed NRRP changes, with negotiations to be concluded by May 31. 'We are entering the final renegotiation of the NRRP (...) to make sure that for the €4.9 billion in grants still to be received, we have investment projects that are finished and can bring in the full amount,' Pislaru said. He added that the adjustments will involve 'some shifts from loans to grants', but on a smaller scale than last summer.

A physical meeting with the Commission is expected on May 22, followed by intensive talks until the May 31 deadline. 'I speak with quite a lot of confidence that we have enough projects to access all non-repayable funds,' Pislaru said.

He also expressed confidence that Romania will be able to draw most of the loan component, stressing that all loan-financed projects are already included in the state budget. 'In the worst case, if any amount were lost from the loan side, it would only be the interest-rate difference between NRRP loans and the current borrowing costs of the Finance Ministry. But our assumption - and we have scenarios on the table - is that we will not lose money on loans either,' he said.

However, accessing the investment funds requires completing several reforms. Pislaru said nine regulatory acts at law level must be adopted by Parliament. 'Three are ready: the law on land for investments, the consolidated integrity law for ANI, and the law on digitalisation in research. A fourth - the Urban Planning Code - is already in Parliament. For the reform of the Tax Administration Authority introducing a bonus/malus system, we are awaiting Commission feedback, so this is also practically ready - making it the fifth piece of legislation,' he explained.

The remaining legislative package - the Unified Wage Law, the Water Law, decarbonisation measures, and the Administrative Code - is still being prepared and discussed with the Commission. Two additional measures, specifically the Biodiversity Strategy and electronic customs implementation, may be completed at government level as they do not require laws. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Nicoleta Banciulea; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)