Romania is set to lose at least €770 million in EU funds after political disagreements prevented the country from meeting a key deadline in its post-pandemic recovery plan.
The main political parties failed to reach a consensus on a new public-sector salary law before the 31 August deadline for completing reforms linked to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
According to EU sources, the missed deadline will cost Romania around €770 million, to be deducted from the €8.44 billion in EU funds still due to the country – around 40% of the entire €21.41 billion recovery plan.
The final calculation of the financial loss will be made during the European Commission’s assessment of Romania’s final payment request, which must be submitted by the end of September.
Romanian President Nicușor Dan said last week that the legislation was technically almost finalised and could still be adopted by the end of the year. He described the reform as a “complicated topic with major social and economic implications” that had been debated “under enormous time pressure”.
