EC to propose simplification of PNRR milestones, payment request number 4 could be collected in December

The European Commission is to propose in September a simplification of the PNRR milestones and targets, announces the Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dragos Pislaru.The clarifications were made during a press conference in which the minister announced that Romania had completed the renegotiation process with the European Commission regarding the National Recovery and Resilience Plan."The renegotiation was complicated, but the important part is the implementation. Next week there will be a memorandum in which we will list all these projects, in order to create predictability. In parallel, together with the European Commission, we are working all August on all the documentation necessary for submission for approval. In September, the Commission should propose that we also reach a conclusion on the massive simplification of milestones and targets. It is a commitment that we obtained in the negotiations and the Commission has assumed, which assumes that we will have the Commission's approval at the end of September and we enter for the ECOFIN on October 20, for the Council's approval of the revised plan," Dragos Pislaru specified, in a press conference held at the Victoria Palace.After the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) approves the revised version of the PNRR, payment request number 4 will be submitted, and the money would be collected in December."In parallel, we are working on payment request 4. From the moment we have the revised version of the PNRR, we can submit payment request 4 and even the plan agreed with the European Commission is to collect payment request 4 in December this year, thus having an extra breath of oxygen for the deficit part", explained the minister.Dragos Pislaru stressed that Romania does not lose "a single euro" from the non-reimbursable component of the PNRR funds, which totals 13.57 billion euros. To this is added the loan component, representing 8.01 billion euros.In this context, he drew attention to the fact that Romania has difficulties in assuming additional loans, in the context of the budget deficit."There is indeed a reduction in the loan component that Romania currently believes it can afford, to 8 billion, from, initially, an available 15 billion on the loan side. But this is what Romania currently allows itself to borrow, in the context of the fiscal space we have," said Dragos Pislaru.