Celine Gauer, European Commission: Romania’s NRRP is an excellent plan, focus must be on implementation/ Delivery of reforms cannot be negotiated

Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan is excellent on the green transition component and on structural reforms, Celine Gauer, Head of the European Commission’s Recovery and Resilience Cell, SG Recover, European Commission, told the Eurosfat Forum on Wednesday 15 June. „It is essential to keep the focus on implementation, it is an element of stability for Romania in turbulent times,” she explained.

The implementation is crucial, the EC representative said, for two reasons: „because it ensures a constant flow of money, having a macro-economic stabilizing effect that Romania needs very much at the moment; and also because the plan, its content, is exactly what Romania needs, for example, renewable energy, energy efficiency, hydrogen.”

The Recovery and Resilience Mechanism is an innovative instrument in several respects: in terms of its size and the way it is financed, it is the first time that it is financed by green bonds and market loans; it combines reforms and investment. Another novelty is that it is performance-based, she stressed.
On the current situation, Celine Gauer said that there are 9 payment requests submitted at the European level and €100 billion disbursed, and the whole process is highly cooperative between the Member States and the Commission. Payment requests are currently being assessed for Croatia, Slovakia, Spain, and Romania.

She also underlined that ownership is very important for implementation – the involvement of civil society, social partners, and local authorities.
Implementation is strictly supervised by the European Court of Auditors, but also by the European Parliament.

The Commission has made a proposal for a REPowerEU initiative, dedicated to the transition from resource dependency in Russia, very clearly targeted; so clearly targeted changes in the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism regulation.

When asked at the Eurosfat forum „how many countries have approved recovery plans without reforms?” Celine Gauer replied, „Zero, all have reforms and investment, reforms are key. Delivery of reforms cannot be negotiated, for the EU it is a condition to receive funding. For example, in Romania, pension reform is an absolute necessity,” she said.

So is meeting the milestones, she added: „If a milestone is not met, there are only 6 months to meet that milestone, if after 6 months it is not completed, the money is lost.”