Bolojan: Keeping coal plants open could cost up to 100 million euros in PNRR funds

   Interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Friday that postponing the closure of the lignite-fired power plants in Turceni and Craiova could lead to the loss of up to 100 million euros from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).This would be added to the loss of 700 million euros in European funding as a result of the public sector pay law not being adopted."We will lose some money on two components. On the one hand, for the milestones that have not been met, for the reforms that have not been carried out, the most important being the pay law. But we are in a situation where, for example, we will lose money, not such large amounts, much smaller amounts, in the decarbonisation area, because we committed to closing a certain capacity of coal-fired power plants, to reducing it. We received money to do this, to replace coal-fired power plants with gas-fired ones, for example, as is the case in Craiova," Bolojan told Prima News.He added that the decision was taken in the context of a social reality and to prevent Craiova residents from being left without heating next winter.Romania could also lose funding for projects that have not been fully completed. These will not benefit from loans at an interest rate of 3%, the interim prime minister indicated."For example, we have motorway components that were moved from grants to loans, precisely because there was a high probability that they would not be completed and therefore we will lose amounts from the loans. The difference is that they were loans with a low interest rate of 3% and we have to borrow at twice those rates on the market. Thus, there are two categories of losses: grants and loans, but they are not high-impact losses. This, as I told you, is because we did not do what was necessary for years and because, at the last minute, although there was a general interest in meeting these milestones, the PSD [the Social Democratic Party], in an attempt to completely avoid responsibility, as it also did this year while it was in government, adopted the same policy," Bolojan said.