Preliminary assessment of the first payment request of Romania

the clear mandate of the three institutions. Therefore, the GEO 124/2021 allows these institutions to properly monitor and implement the plan and adequately addresses the requirements of the Council Implementing Decision.

In line with the description of the milestone and of the measure in the Council Implementing Decision, the following elements included in the Government Emergency Ordinance ensure the achievement of the milestone.

The Government Emergency Ordinance no. 124/2021 establishing the institutional and financial framework for the management of the European funds allocated to Romania under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and amending and supplementing Government Emergency Order No 155/2020 on certain measures for drawing up the National Recovery and Resilience Plan necessary for Romania to access repayable and non-refundable external funds under the Recovery and Resilience Facility was adopted by the Government on 13 December 2021, published in the Official Gazette no. 1178 of 14 December 2021 and entered into force on 14 December 2021, in accordance with art. 12(2) of the Law 24 of 27 March 2000, version updated, on rules of legislative technique for the preparation of normative acts, published in the Official Gazette no. 260 of 21 April 2010.

This was followed by its approval by the Law no. 178 of 9 June 2022, published in the Official Gazette no. 576 of 14 June 2022, in accordance with the procedure detailed in art. 75, 76(2) and 77 of the Romanian Constitution. The provisions of the GEO 124/2021 are further detailed in secondary legislation, namely methodological norms, adopted through the Government Decision no. 209 of 14 February 2022, published in the Official Gazette no. 154 of 15 February 2022, entered into force on 15 February 2022, in accordance with art. 12(3) of the Law 24 of 27 March 2000, version updated, on rules of legislative technique for the preparation of normative acts, published in the Official Gazette no. 260 of 21 April 2010. In addition, the GEO 70/2022 of 26 May 2022 on prevention, verification and detection of irregularities/double financing, serious irregularities in obtaining and using the funds allocated under the RRF, published in the Official Gazette no. 526 of 27 May 2022, entered into force on 27 May 2022, in accordance with art. 12(2) of the Law 24 of 27 March 2000, version updated, on rules of legislative technique for the preparation of normative acts, published in the

Official Gazette no. 260 of 21 April 2010, complements and details the measures stipulated in chapter VIII of the GEO 124/2021.

The GEO 124/2021 establishes the institutional and financial framework for the management of the National recovery and resilience plan by:  defining the specific terminology applied in the framework of this new mechanism (art. 2);  appointing the institutions and bodies with responsibilities for the coordination, management and control of funds granted under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (herein after the RRF) (art. 3), and  outlining the general coordination of the implementation of RRF (art. 4).

The mandate of the three main institutions are outlined as follows:  Art. 3 lit. a) appoints MIPE as national coordinator while art. 5 entrusts MIPE with the the tasks of monitoring, verification, control and recovery (alin.1 lit. d), e), f) and h; alin. 3, lit g), j), l), m), n), p), v), x), y), z), aa)-hh)), drawing up and signing payment requests submitted to the Commission (alin.3 lit. q), ii), and the relevant management declarations and the audit summaries (alin.1 lit. g, alin.3 lit. r).  Art. 3 lit. f) appoints the MoF as the institution responsible for receiving the RRF funds from the Commission as well as their administration/use in accordance with the GEO 124/2021, as well as for regulating the preventive financial control. Art.5, alin. 5 lit. b) entrusts the MoF with the task of signing the loan agreement while describing its responsibilities in art. 5, lit.

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