In recent months, the The Foundation For The Defense Of Citizens Against State Abuses (FACIAS) has pointed out errors in the drafting of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) as part of its project to monitor the work of the Romanian Government.
The European Commission has once again delivered harsh criticism to Romania's government in several areas, from infrastructure to education. Much of the criticism relates to the fact that costs are not justified, that some costs are overestimated, that there are inconsistencies between amounts, that calculation methodologies are missing and that unclear project information has been provided.
One of the major criticisms raised by the European Commission is the unjustified amounts for the IMM Risk Capital Fund. The European Commission notes, for example, that the Romanian government has requested €133,000 for the training of one person.
European officials also point to dozens of errors in the amounts requested in the project plan compared to the project annexes. For example, in the project plan Romania is asking for €80 million to renovate the newborn care units, while in the annexes the final amount is €71 million.
All these inadequacies show a lack of responsibility and professionalism on the part of the government and those in charge of drawing up the NRRP. In fact, according to public information, the technical coordinator of the NRRP also went on leave just days after the Prime Minister had expressly requested that, until the final approval of the NRRP, no official involved in the management of the Plan should take leave.
In the original form of the NRRP, Romania was supposed to benefit from €40 billion. Following criticism from the European Commission, the amount has already fallen to €29 billion. Today, more than two months after the last deadline set by the Government for the submission of a final form of the NRRP, Romania is still being criticised for the way it has been drafted and is again at risk of receiving an even lower amount. Romania remains at the bottom of the ranking on the drafting of the NRRP, unlike other countries that have been given the green light for projects, and will receive the money requested.
The NRRP represents a unique opportunity for Romania to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic on the economy and build a sustainable economy. However, we risk losing this opportunity due to the incompetence and lack of interest shown by the Romanian Government.