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1. The Immediate Priority: Delivering PNRR with Strategic Maturity
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) remains the most urgent and high-stakes portfolio. Too often treated as a checklist, it is in fact a test of political leadership, institutional capacity, and national vision.
Two imperatives are clear:
- High-level coordination. Remaining reforms, some politically sensitive, must become a personal priority for the Prime Minister. A core group of committed ministers must embed this agenda across government. Reforming the state requires continuity, courage, and cross-sector alignment.
- Strategic project selection. Romania has been granted an 18-month extension. This window must be used wisely to prioritize a shortlist of feasible, high-impact, shovel-ready projects, particularly in energy, digital infrastructure, and healthcare. Time must be turned into tangible investment.
2. The Overlooked Engine: Structural Funds and the Modernisation Fund
While public discourse revolves around PNRR, the real volume and continuity of funding lies in structural and cohesion funds, the National Strategic Programme, and the Modernisation Fund. What is needed now:
- A project-level operational audit to identify delays and bottlenecks
- A central acceleration task force with real technical capacity
- Political resolve to unblock and fast-track critical projects
These steps could activate up to €3–5 billion annually for Romania’s economy, especially in sectors such as energy, transport, education, and digitalisation.
3. Preparing for 2028: The Next Generation of EU Financing
The years 2025 and 2026 will define Romania’s place in the next EU funding cycle. The government must already be:
- Designing next-generation operational programmes for structural and rural development
- Aligning with Green Deal instruments and the RE-ARM initiative
- Ensuring policy coherence across national development goals
The next wave of EU financing will increasingly shift toward:
- Loans, equity, and guarantee instruments that blend public and private capital
- Impact-driven logic with performance measured in returns and multipliers
Romania must evolve from a fund user to a strategic investor by building projects that attract co-financing and deliver long-term value.
4. Fixing the Core Structural Disconnect
One of Romania’s persistent systemic flaws is the disconnect between EU-funded and nationally funded programmes such as PNDL. This fragmentation leads to duplication, inefficiency, and missed outcomes. What is needed is a unified investment strategy. The impact must come first, the funding source second. If a project serves national strategic goals, it must be delivered, whether through grants, loans, or the state budget.
5. From Absorption to Leverage
Romania has built a reputation for last-minute absorption. That is no longer enough. We now need to become excellent at:
- Strategic programme design
- Timely, high-quality implementation
- Mobilising blended capital and managing investment risk
We are entering what may be the most fiscally constrained year in recent memory. And yet, we hold a powerful tool in our hands if we choose to use it with clarity and vision.
EU funds are no longer simply a resource.
They are a responsibility. They are Romania’s bet on itself.
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