Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu said on Monday evening that he cannot afford a scenario where European funds are suspended due to a shortfall in the target deficit, as all major infrastructure projects in the country will be halted at that point.

“All these large investments, which we manage in the Ministry of Transport, are from European funds. There is no other source of funding except European funds and, of course, co-financing from the state budget (…) As the Minister of Transport, I can tell you that I cannot afford (… ) in the end we are discussing the possible suspension of European funds, so that we do not subscribe to the target deficit or question marks of this type, because at that moment everything related to the big infrastructure projects in Romania that are currently being carried out are suspended,” Sorin Grindeanu said on Monday evening at Digi 24.

He stated that the suspension of European funds “is not the scenario we want.”

The minister gave an example of the situation in Hungary, which suspended funding.

“This whole lack of European funding… and you can see that in the discussions I had with my colleague. This is something we cannot afford. There is no such thing, with all the populist speeches we see every day, that we don’t need Europe, that we can do it ourselves. This is not true,” Grindyanu added.

Answering the question of what will happen if the EU announces that it will suspend European funds for Romania, Sorin Grindeanu said: “In the Ministry of Transport, at that moment, all, absolutely all projects that are in the field of roads, that are in the railway zone, that they naval or in the area of ​​airports, they all no longer have funding. Yes, absolutely everything and everything stops. Everything stops, it’s normal.”

According to him, “we have to find solutions that we can measure very well.” (Source: News.ro)