InvestMin Pislaru: Romania has all the ingredients to draft a national plan from February

  Romania has all the ingredients to draft a national plan from February next year, that has a sectoral, economic and digital component, alongside another component from a list of major challenges such as demographics, human capital and technology, with the digital transformation of society as the central theme of this plan, Investment and European Projects Minister Dragos Pislaru said on Tuesday.He participated in the 2025 Digital Governance Summit within the panel "Development, innovation and institutional trust: Building a digital economy for Romania," alongside his colleagues from the Government, namely Minister of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism Radu Miruta and Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare."We have all the ingredients to draft a national plan from February, with a sectoral, economic and digital component, and another component from a list of major challenges such as demographics, human capital and technology, with the digital transformation of society as the central theme of this national plan," Pislaru said.According to him, Romania must not separate national from European money, should no longer wait for decisions from Brussels, and needs to develop its own economic strategy and multi-year plans."We can use the seven-year European budget programming cycle to finally have a national plan. I am working to gain enough credibility through proper implementation of money in order to propose to society that from January-February we start working on the 2028-2034 programming, in a completely new way. Firstly, we no longer separate national and European money. There is no reason to create national programmes that compete with European ones and fragment things. Secondly, we do not need to wait for decisions from Europe regarding negotiations because we already have our plan which we need to develop. And thirdly! We are talking about multi-year programming because we have a seven-year horizon. Instead of dreaming or closing our eyes, I want us to keep them wide open and get to work," the Minister of Investments and European Projects mentioned.The 2025 Digital Governance Summit gathered, for the first time, on Tuesday at the Cotroceni Palace, international leaders who have contributed to the digital transformation of public administrations of other countries, as well as Romanian decision-makers who can continue this change in Romania.The event, held under the High Patronage of the President of Romania, was attended by the head of state, Nicusor Dan, Vice Prime Minister Oana Gheorghiu and Head of the Prime Minister's Chancellery Mihai Jurca.International guests included Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former president of Estonia and architect of one of the world's most advanced digital state models and Janusz Cieszynski, former Polish Minister of Digitalisation, who oversaw the transition to modern, citizen-centred electronic public services.According to the organisers, the Summit at the Cotroceni Palace was not just a conference, but a call for collective responsibility among the state, private sector, academia and civil society, as digitalising the administration is not only about technology, but also about the state's ability to respond efficiently to citizens' needs.Within the event, the Edge Institute x AtlasIntel Study was launched, which reveals what Romanians think about the digitalisation of the state: the areas that they trust, their priorities and what they expect from the digital administration of the future.