Investment Minister: 10 billion euros, the lowest absorbtion target of European funds in 2024

The lowest absorbtion target of European funds for 2024 is 10 billion euros, a target found in the state budget, which means the budget of the Investment and European Projects Ministry (MIPE), said minister Adrian Caciu at a press conference.   “We have already made appeals for the 2021-2027 exercise. 18 billion euros have already been launched. Until the end of the year we will launf up to 21 billion euros. These appeals will produce expenses and financing in 2024. In the first half of the year 2024, we will launch appeals of up to 49 billion euros, which will also start producing European expenses and financing in the second part of the year. In other words, 10 billion euros are the lowest absorbtion target for 2024, a target which will be found in the state budget, which means the MIPE budget. It is a target which represents maintaining an average introduced as of 2022,”Caciu said at the conference “Romania's budget and financing in 2024: what should economy expect?” organized by Ruling Course.   The Investment minister pointed out that Romania's absorbtion average was 4.5-5 billion euros following accession, while in 2022 the average was over 10 billion euros per year.   “We cautiously propose 10 billion euros in 2024, without adding money from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) , which is now a sort of buffer for Romania. That is how PNRR was built, at first we get more money to be used while investments are in execution not implementation. Out of 9.1 billions Romania has at its disposal, my estimate is that 4-4.5 billions will be used in 2024. Obviously, besides that we will receive the money for payment request number three and we will make efforts to have request number four until the end of the year,”said Adrian Caciu.   According to him, besides PNRR there will also be REPowerEU plan, where financing of 1,4 billion euros was introduced.   “According to REPowerEU mechanisms, in 2024, at least 40% of this amount should be used. Here we have two important measures for the people, referring to the energy sufficiency of households and photovoltaic panneld and batteries.We will have dual measures. We discussed at government level too about the new outlook on renewable energy,” the minister added.   He mentioned that Romania had invested a lot and consumers invested only in pannels.   “We do not have storage capacities and the state must come up with a series of programs in which, when you set up photovoltaic pannels you should also have your own storage capacity and not becoem somewhat aggressive towards the market, in case you have extra production, but to be able to store and use your own production,” Caciu added.