The European Commission on Tuesday approved Romania’s revised Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), which includes a chapter on REPowerEU. According to the Commission’s press release, the proposed funding so far amounts to €28.5 billion (€14.9 billion in loans and €13.6 billion in grants), the plan includes 66 reforms and 111 investments.

REPowerEU aims to invest in green energy, promote the energy efficiency of buildings, and reskill and upskill the workforce in the field of renewable energy production.

Money for green energy

Romania requested to transfer its share from the Brexit adjustment reserve to the plan under the REPowerEU Regulation. The European Commission shows that these funds, which are added to the allocations for Romania in the form of grants from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RMR) and REPowerEU (€12.1 billion and €1.4 billion respectively), as well as loans granted under the MRR (14.9 billion euros), to bring the volume of financing under the amended plan to 28.5 billion euros.

Romania’s revised plan places a strong emphasis on the transition to green energy, allocating 44.1% (up from 41% in the original plan) of available funds to measures supporting climate goals.

The chapter on REPowerEU contains two new reforms. One of the reforms introduces a legal framework for the use of unproductive or degraded state-owned land for green energy production.

Another reform envisages the creation of a “single window” to provide advice to consumers on energy-efficient renovations and renewable energy production.

The seven investments in the REPowerEU chapter aim to accelerate the use of renewable energy sources and the pace of renovations aimed at improving energy efficiency, as well as reskilling the workforce for green skills.

Money for digital transition

Romania’s revised plan also takes into account the digital transition and allocates 21.8% (compared to 20.5% in the original plan). It envisages the development of infrastructure and the digitization of certain sectors, such as health care, public employment and social protection, transport, education, taxation, culture, the judiciary and environmental services.

The chapter on REPowerEU includes the reform and two sub-investments related to the digitalization of public authorities, offering new solutions and digital equipment. They are aimed at optimizing the communication network, creating a data center, and limiting the risks of cyberattacks on the infrastructure of the electricity transmission system operator.

New measures include voucher schemes to accelerate the use of renewable energy sources and increase household energy efficiency, with a special focus on vulnerable households, training in green energy skills and accelerating green energy production.

Next steps

The Council now has four weeks to approve the Commission’s assessment. After the Council approves the plan, Romania will receive €288 million in pre-financing from REPowerEU funds.

Under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Romania has so far received EUR 9.06 billion, namely EUR 1.8 billion in pre-financing in December 2021, representing 13% of the initial financial allocation, EUR 1.9 billion in pre-financing. financing in January 2022, representing 13% of the committed loan, a first payment of €2.6 billion in October 2022 and a second payment of €2.76 billion in September 2023.

The Commission authorizes new payments subject to the satisfactory achievement of milestones and targets set out in Romania’s revised Recovery and Resilience Plan, which reflects progress in implementing investments and reforms.