Pislaru:In one year,we added 31% to PNRR,during first four years,annual average was 10.4%

   The percentage of the PNRR implemented has risen by 31% over the past fourteen months and is set to reach 78% following the fifth payment request?compared to an annual average of approximately 10.4% during the first four and a half years?Dragos Pislaru, the interim Minister of Investments and European Projects, stated on Friday at a press conference held after the government meeting.Pislaru pointed out that, at the time the current government took office, the percentage associated with the PNRR stood at 47.19%."When this government took office and I became Minister of Investments and European Projects, the NRRP stood at 47.19%, after having missed a significant portion of Payment Request 3 and a relatively small component of Payment Request 2. So, 47% was the NRRP completion rate after a four-and-a-half-year period?2021 to 2025," stated Pislaru.He compared the pace recorded during that period with the trend over the last year and two months."If we break down that four-and-a-half-year period, the annual average was around 10.4% of the NRRP. In the year and two months under the Bolojan Government?led by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan?we have added 31% to the NRRP. This brings the total to 78%, a figure we will reach following the fifth payment request. We have already received feedback from the European Commission regarding many of the components uploaded to the Phoenix system, and today we will officially hit the submission button," the minister stated.Romania's Recovery and Resilience Plan is funded with EUR21.41 billion, of which EUR13.57 billion is in the form of grants and EUR7.84 billion in the form of loans.    Negotiations with EC on Milestone 119a result in tenfold reduction in penalty   Negotiations with the European Commission on Milestone 119a, concerning electricity market reform through the replacement of coal in the energy mix, resulted in the penalty being reduced tenfold, as 25% of the milestone has already been fulfilled, interim Minister of Investments and European Projects Dragos Pislaru said at a government briefing on Friday."The Bolojan Government anticipated the discussions on closing the remaining 710 MW under Milestone 119a. During Minister Burduja's tenure, Transelectrica commissioned an adequacy study to substantiate the need to retain the major coal-fired units at Turceni and Rovinari that remain in operation. At the same time, I personally negotiated for Craiova and Govora. We are talking about supplying households and major economic operators in the absence of the gas-fired investments that were supposed to be completed, because you cannot shut down those capacities, especially during the winter, as you would be left completely exposed. All these matters had already been notified to the European Commission. The negotiations resulted in a considerable reduction of the penalty because Milestone 119a is part of a broader reform that has already been largely fulfilled. So, moving from a coefficient of five to a coefficient of 0.5 means a tenfold reduction in the penalty. Given that 25% of the milestone has already been fulfilled, with 3,000 MW of renewable capacity completed, the penalty would otherwise have been in the order of millions or tens of millions [of euros]," the minister explained.He said amendments adopted by Parliament to legislation on decarbonisation risk blocking implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) and leading to the loss of billions of euros in EU funding."The initiative in Parliament with that populist amendment banning us from shutting down power plants had no basis, in the sense that there was no imminent danger of having to shut them down urgently. All it could do was create a risk of reversibility, which the European Commission confirmed under Milestone 114, concerning decarbonisation, in Payment Request No. 2, and create problems for us, to the point where we had to send a notification to the Presidential Administration and the President asking that the amendment not be promulgated," Pislaru said.The Chamber of Deputies' plenary session on Wednesday adopted the bill on decarbonising the energy sector, which included a PSD amendment stipulating that the gradual decommissioning of lignite- and hard-coal-fired power generation capacity may take place only after new equivalent energy capacities have been built and commissioned.The bill was also adopted by the Senate, while the Chamber of Deputies is the decision-making chamber in this case.