Ciolos: EC criticizes Romania for PNRR, all the more reason to end saga of position distribution

 

Ciolos, who is chairman of the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament, said that Romania's plan to attract 30 billion euros through the National Recovery and Resilience Program (PNRR) has been criticized by the European Commission for not providing " serious " reforms.

 

"The European Commission has criticized the Orban government's plan to attract 30 billion euros from the European Union, saying the PNRR does not envisage any serious reforms in areas such as digitalisation, environmental protection, economic sustainability and education. All the more reason to end this saga as soon as possible with the distribution of positions and to seriously discuss the governing program and how we finance the measures and commitments laid down there," said Dacian Ciolos.

 

According to him, the National Recovery and Resilience Program, which should bring Romania tens of billions of euros for economic recovery and reforms in health and education, "cannot be a new PNDL [National Local Development Program]", but should contain structural reforms.

 

"So that we are able to finance investments, despite the budget deficit we have reached following the crisis caused by PSD [the Social Democratic Party] and the pandemic crisis, to support digitalization and, thus, the debureaucratization of the public administration. To move from the logic of 'quantitative absorption of EU funds' to a logic of efficient use of public money, we believe that there is a need to reorganize the Ministry of European Funds, to facilitate the absorption of European funds and to reduce the bureaucracy associated with projects involving money from the European Union," explained Ciolos.The Save Romania Union - Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity (USR PLUS) Alliance co-chair Dacian Ciolos said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that the parties to be part of the governing coalition have to "seriously" discuss the program they are proposing and the financing measures envisaged, emphasizing that the "distribution of positions saga" needs to be completed "as soon as possible."

 

Ciolos, who is chairman of the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament, said that Romania's plan to attract 30 billion euros through the National Recovery and Resilience Program (PNRR) has been criticized by the European Commission for not providing " serious " reforms.

 

"The European Commission has criticized the Orban government's plan to attract 30 billion euros from the European Union, saying the PNRR does not envisage any serious reforms in areas such as digitalisation, environmental protection, economic sustainability and education. All the more reason to end this saga as soon as possible with the distribution of positions and to seriously discuss the governing program and how we finance the measures and commitments laid down there," said Dacian Ciolos.

 

According to him, the National Recovery and Resilience Program, which should bring Romania tens of billions of euros for economic recovery and reforms in health and education, "cannot be a new PNDL [National Local Development Program]", but should contain structural reforms.

 

"So that we are able to finance investments, despite the budget deficit we have reached following the crisis caused by PSD [the Social Democratic Party] and the pandemic crisis, to support digitalization and, thus, the debureaucratization of the public administration. To move from the logic of 'quantitative absorption of EU funds' to a logic of efficient use of public money, we believe that there is a need to reorganize the Ministry of European Funds, to facilitate the absorption of European funds and to reduce the bureaucracy associated with projects involving money from the European Union," explained Ciolos.