BUCHAREST (Reuters) -Romania will be able to draw roughly 21.6 billion euros ($24.65 billion) worth of EU recovery funds after it concluded negotiations with Brussels on required reforms and deadlines, EU Funds Minister Dragos Pislaru said on Thursday.
Romania has so far tapped roughly 9 billion euros out of an initial package of 28.5 billion euros worth of grants and loans available until mid-2026 under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).
“Romania will not lose a single euro from the non-refundable part of 13.57 billion euros,” Pislaru told reporters. “There is a reduction in the loan component, now at 8 billion euros from 15 billion euros that were initially available.
Pislaru said Brussels is expected to approve the new package on October 20.
The payments are conditional on reforms, but Romania’s progress has stalled as it faced an extended election season which included a presidential ballot that was cancelled in December and re-run in May.
The country and Brussels have been renegotiating the terms of the package for much of the past year to identify the investment projects that could still be concluded before the deadline next year. They reached an agreement on Thursday.
Romania has struggled to rein in its budget deficit since before the COVID-19 pandemic. It must reduce it from last year’s 9.3% of output – the EU’s largest – to below 3% by 2031.
The one-month-old broad coalition government will hike value added tax and excise duties from August, with more levies to rise from 2026, and is also working on cutting state spending to eliminate waste and ensure Romania keeps its investment grade rating.
($1 = 0.8763 euros)
(Reporting by Luiza IlieEditing by Frances Kerry)
