The Foundation for the Defense of Citizens against State Abuses (FACIAS) has expressed concerns over Romania's repeated delays in transposing European Union directives, which it asserts may result in significant financial sanctions, directly impacting citizens. According to the official information provided to FACIAS, the European Commission has already initiated nine infringement proceedings against Romania for its failure to meet the stipulated deadlines for implementation. The directives in question include the reduction of value-added tax on food, medicines and medical products (EU Directive 2022/542) and the introduction of compulsory insurance against civil liability (EU Directive 2021/2118).
The transposition of the Reduced VAT Rates Directive into national law was required by 31 December 2024. However, the Romanian government failed to meet this deadline, resulting in the European Commission initiating the preliminary procedure and issuing an official letter of formal notice of delay to Romania. In response, the Romanian government made an assurance to the European institutions that the directive would be transposed by March 2025. However, this deadline was also not met.
However, the Ministry of Finance has not yet adopted the draft Emergency Ordinance, which was submitted to public debate on 7 March 2025. This directive enables the implementation of reduced or even zero tax rates for food, pharmaceutical and medical products, while concurrently offering tax reductions for small taxpayers with a turnover below €85,000.
A similar situation is evident in the case of the directive on MTPL insurance. Despite the transposition deadlines having already expired in June and December 2023, the draft legislation has been blocked in Parliament for over a year. The overarching objective of this directive is to enhance the protection of drivers and victims of road traffic accidents by simplifying compensation procedures and ensuring clear rights for policyholders. In the event that these provisions are not transposed by 14 April 2025, an infringement procedure will be initiated against Romania, which could result in penalties amounting to more than €105,000 per day, to be covered from the public budget.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Energy has been delaying the transposition of the EU Directive on the promotion of the use of renewable energy (2018/2001) for a period exceeding four years. The most recent deadline, which has now been superseded, was set for July 2025, following a series of prior postponements. The directive stipulates that member countries must establish a legislative framework conducive to the utilisation of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. The implementation of this directive would yield direct benefits for citizens, including a reduction in energy costs, a decrease in pollution, and an enhancement in Romania's energy independence.
FACIAS recalls that Romania has previously been subject to sanctions for its failure to transpose directives. In December 2020, the country received a fine of €3 million for its delayed transposition of the anti-money laundering directive, and no individual was identified as responsible or held accountable.
Romania is currently facing 50 actions for failure to fulfil obligations in the transposition procedures for directives. Of these, 30 pertain to the incompatibility or erroneous implementation of national regulations with EU law, categorised into 20 instances at the stage of late transposition (predominantly in the domains of environment, energy and financial instruments markets) and 10 cases at the reasoned opinion stage. Furthermore, 20 actions pertain to the failure to notify measures transposing EU legislation, of which 17 concern the late transposition stage and 3 the reasoned opinion stage. The most affected areas are the financial instruments market, energy, home affairs and climate policies.
This initiative is part of the national campaign "Turn off the waste tap", launched by FACIAS in order to raise awareness on the waste of public funds and to hold the authorities accountable for efficient and transparent management of Romanian taxpayers' money.