The European Commission has rejected Romania’s €1.4 billion REPowerUE plan, announces MEP Dragoș Pîslaru / EU Projects Minister Boloș: It was not rejected, they asked us for additional information

MEP Dragoș Pîslaru, co-president of REPER, announced on Thursday that the European Commission has rejected the investments proposed by Romania in the REPowerUE Plan, which was supposed to bring investments of €1.4 billion. Dragoș Pîslaru says that the government in Bucharest, in a total lack of transparency, asked for funding for projects that came via party channels, such as: inefficient investments on lakes located in PSD-PNL fiefdoms in Oltenia or on irrigation canals in Braila to serve local clientele or investments by state companies, including those that were exempted from environmental impact in an abusive way.

• UPDATE European Projects Minister Marcel Bolos told Economedia.ro that the plan was not rejected, but the European Commission asked for additional information about the investment projects. According to the minister, it is an informal consultation. There is no question of a new approval deadline either, he said.

Romania has received €1.4bn from the EU for the green chapter of the NRRP called REPowerEU, additional European money for energy efficiency investments for SMEs and households, with the clear aim of helping vulnerable consumers to lower their energy bills and not fall behind in the transition to green energy.

„The Romanian government had until 30 April to submit the REPowerEU chapter to the European Commission and say how it plans to invest the €1.4bn. In a total lack of transparency and in a hurry, the Government submitted an unofficial version of the chapter, asking for funding for projects that came from the party line, such as inefficient investments on lakes located in PSD-PNL fiefdoms in Oltenia or on irrigation canals in Braila to serve local clientele or investments by state companies, including those that have been exempted from environmental impact in an abusive way,” the press release reads.

According to the quoted source, the European Commission has rejected these policy proposals of the Government for RePowerEU.

Dragoș Pîslaru, the European Parliament’s RePowerEU and Recovery and Resilience Mechanism negotiator, warned back in February that the Government’s plan is not adequate to Romanians’ needs and that consultation with civil society is essential. The REPER Party also offered an alternative to the chapter proposed by the Government, focusing on deep renovation of housing and energy efficiency. This alternative was formally submitted to the Government during the only consultation session and had the support of civil society, the statement said.

Dragoș Pîslaru, REPER co-president and REPowerEU co-rapporteur: „The European Commission has only approved energy efficiency investments that help households and entrepreneurs to reduce their bills – exactly what we and the Reper party have put forward as solutions. We asked for 1 billion for Romanian homes and small entrepreneurs.

Now that the Commission has rejected the bazillions that the Government wanted to do with European money, maybe the coalition will finally decide to listen to us, those of us who know how REPower should be implemented, and think about the Romanians. That’s why we have extremism in Romania: because the politicians in power make a mockery of European opportunities and think they can serve their political clientele with European money. Surprise! No way! European money is for the development of European citizens.”

Background. In a press release issued at the end of April, the Ministry of the Environment and Energy announced that the REPowerEU programme provides Romania with new funding of €1,440,391,220, of which €1,397,228,597 – RePowerEU allocation, and €43,162,623 – Brexit adjustment reserve for strategic investments in the key area of energy security, enabling the creation of clean energy production and storage ecosystems (hydropower, photovoltaics).

In this regard, the Ministry recalls that, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2023/435 amending Regulation (EU) 2021/241 as regards the RepowerEU chapters, the REPowerEU chapters of the Member States’ Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs), there is an obligation to submit the summary of the public consultation process when submitting the new chapter, encouraging the broadest possible consultation framework with the participation of all social partners with relevant expertise in relation to the REPowerEU objectives.

The Ministry of European Investment and Projects launched the public consultation process for the submission of proposals for reforms and investments for the new REPowerEU chapter by interested stakeholders from 17 to 26 March 2023. Interested organisations and individuals were provided with a standardised and simplified electronic form to submit proposals for reforms and investments.

Some proposals in Romania’s REPowerEU plan are not in line with fossil fuel reduction targets, including the construction of fossil gas transmission pipelines and co-generation plants or the construction of hydropower plants that could affect biodiversity in protected areas, environmental activists warned on 1 May.