The European Commission adopted two decisions on Monday, issuing a positive preliminary assessment to lift the suspension of the payment of 37.2 million euros to Romania and 714 million euros to Portugal, after acknowledging the progress made in implementing their recovery and resilience plans (PNRR), it is stated in a press release from the Community Executive.
The decision follows previous suspensions, when the European Commission determined that certain milestones and targets were not satisfactorily met in Romania’s second payment request, and in Portugal’s third and fourth payment requests.
In the case of Romania, the payment suspension follows the measures to promote the green transition.
The European Commission established that two specific milestones in Romania’s second payment request were not met satisfactorily, which led to the withholding of the amount of 53.4 million euros. After the initial suspension, Romania was encouraged to take measures for a period of six months. Now, the European Commission has determined that Romania has taken steps to ensure that the part of the unresolved benchmarks has now been properly completed, according to Agerpres.
More precisely, in June 2023, milestone 129, related to green hydrogen production capacities, together with milestone 133, regarding investments in heat generation facilities less intensive in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, were initially considered that were not satisfactorily fulfilled. The suspension mechanism allowed the country to receive a partial payment for milestones and targets that were satisfactorily met, while it was given additional time to meet the rest of the requirements.
Using the additional time obtained, Romania implemented a series of effective actions, which accelerated the decarbonization of its industry. The Commission concluded that Milestone 133 is now satisfactorily met. Consequently, he has now proposed the release of the amount of 17.8 million euros corresponding to this milestone.
In relation to milestone 129, the Community Executive has notified Romania that it continues to consider the milestone not satisfactorily met, while acknowledging the progress made in completing it. Romania now has two months to send additional observations to the Commission, after which the payment of the amount related to milestone 129 will be decided.
Romania’s total recovery plan, worth 28.5 billion euros in the form of grants and loans, includes a series of reforms and investments to strengthen its economy. The commission paid Romania more than 9.41 billion euros, the equivalent of 33% of all funds from Romania’s plan, under conditions in which 14% of all benchmarks and targets were met.