Romania has recovered almost 351 million euro of the initially suspended amounts related to payment request no. 3 of the PNRR, but is losing about 459 million euro due to delayed, incomplete or poorly implemented reforms in previous years, announced on Friday the Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dragoș Pîslaru, on Facebook.

“Final decision on payment request no. 3 of the PNRR: we managed to recover 350.7 million euro of the money that was initially suspended; we are losing 458.7 million euros due to delayed, incomplete or poorly implemented reforms in previous years. We received, yesterday evening, the European Commission’s assessment on payment request no. 3 of the PNRR. It is one of the most difficult payment requests that Romania has had so far. This request was submitted by Romania on December 15, 2023. The reforms included in CP3 should have already been properly implemented at the time of submission. Later, in May 2025, the European Commission decided to partially suspend some amounts, because several reforms had not been satisfactorily implemented. Romania then had a correction period and submitted additional justifications on November 28, 2025. Unfortunately, the Commission decided that four important milestones had not been properly resolved,” the minister noted, according to Agerpres.

He stated that, since June 23, when he took over as Minister of European Funds, he has used all formal and informal levers to recover as much of the suspended money as possible, with technical discussions, clarifications, negotiations, coordination with the responsible institutions and constant dialogue with the European Commission structures.

“It was a sustained effort, carried out together with the technical experts from the ministry, thanks to which we managed to recover 350.7 million euro, money that was initially suspended. The most important victory in CP3 is on the issue of special pensions. Here, of the 231 million euro initially suspended, Romania recovers 166 million euros. It was a difficult file, which suffered 6 postponements at the Constitutional Court, which meant that the deadline agreed with the Commission was far exceeded. The direct involvement of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan on this subject was decisive. Thus, the European Commission confirmed that, through Law no. 24/2026, Romania meets the requirements for this milestone”, explained the head of MIPE.

The second important file is AMEPIP and the governance of state-owned companies, where 132 million euro were recovered.

“We are talking about the institution that must ensure that state-owned companies are run professionally, transparently and based on performance criteria, not on political interests or interests. Here we managed to recover 132 million euro, and the contribution of Deputy Prime Minister Oana Gheorghiu was essential to boost this reform and save European money,” wrote Pîslaru.

Regarding the third milestone, the one regarding state-owned energy companies, Romania loses 180 million euro and recovers 48 million euro.

“The third milestone is the one regarding state-owned energy companies. We are talking about large companies, important for the Romanian economy: Hidroelectrica, Romgaz, Nuclearelectrica and others. The European Commission has found serious problems in the way people were selected and appointed to the boards of directors: political appointments, unclear procedures, incorrectly applied criteria, incomplete mandates or lack of performance indicators. For this milestone, Romania loses 180 million euro and recovers 48 million euro”, the Minister of Investments claimed.

At the fourth milestone, regarding state-owned transport companies, the amounts recovered are in the amount of 4.5 million euro, and the losses are 15.4 million euro.

“The fourth milestone is the one regarding state-owned transport companies – CNAIR, CNIR, CFR, Metrorex and CFR Călători. And here the problem is the same: the state had to demonstrate that these companies are run by people selected transparently, competitively and on the basis of competence. The Commission showed that some procedures were not completed, that there were conflict of interest issues and that some appointments did not respect the required standards. Here we are losing 15.4 million euro and we managed to recover 4.5 million euro. In short: where there was political will, as was the case with special pensions, Romania recovered most of the allocated money. However, where reforms were postponed for years, especially in the area of ​​state-owned companies, Romania lost substantial amounts. You cannot claim European funds and, at the same time, continue to appoint the smart guys from the party to the management of state-owned companies. You cannot ask for trust from Brussels, while you, in Bucharest, are only mimicking the selection on the basis of criteria professionalism”, the minister stated.