Interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Tuesday that Romania's top priority in July and August is the absorption of European Union funds under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), adding that consultations with the European Commission will be completed by the end of this week and the government will submit six key draft laws to Parliament so they can be debated and adopted in the second half of July.

'In July and August, Romania's most important project is the absorption of European funds under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. We still have more than 4.5 billion euro in grants to draw down. These funds finance work on the Moldavia Motorway, the electrification of railway lines, hospitals under construction, schools and nurseries, the thermal refurbishment of apartment blocks, as well as a large share of investment projects in towns and communes across the country. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan is the European Union's largest investment programme. Member states receive funding based on the implementation of reforms and the achievement of agreed targets. The money is disbursed in instalments: if you fail to meet your targets, you do not receive the corresponding funding and if you meet them only partially, you receive only part of the money,' Bolojan wrote on Facebook.

He added that Romania's targets and reforms had been established in 2021.

'Some were realistic and we have completed them, while others still require a few more steps. Some proved to be too ambitious. We renegotiated them where possible. Unfortunately, some targets remain unfulfilled. We still have several reforms to complete, which essentially require the adoption of legislation. As the government can no longer use the procedure of assuming responsibility before Parliament or adopt emergency ordinances for these measures, it is necessary to convene extraordinary parliamentary sessions in the coming period to debate and pass these legislative acts,' the interim prime minister said.

Bolojan said that six draft laws are the most important among the outstanding reforms: the law on a unified pay system, the law on incompatibilities, the law on rewarding Finance Ministry staff for improving state budget revenue collection and the civil service law, each linked to funding worth 770 million euro, as well as the Urban Planning Code and the law on decarbonising the heating and cooling sector, each linked to 972 million euro.

'By the end of this week we will complete all consultations with the European Commission and submit the draft laws to parliamentary groups, party leaders and the leadership of both chambers, so that they can be debated and adopted in the second half of July,' the interim prime minister concluded. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Dana Piciu; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)