Preliminary assessment of the first payment request of Romania

Context:

The objective of this sub-investment is to deliver finance and investments to companies and the residential and building sector investing in energy efficiency improvements. The investment shall take the form of a portfolio guarantee, to be implemented as a contribution to InvestEU by the European Investment Fund (“EIF”).

The signature of the Contribution Agreement is the stepping stone for the implementation of the investment C9.I2b. The Contribution Agreement allows Romania to contribute the dedicated funds to the InvestEU Programme, managed at EU level, which are then provided as a guarantee to attract private investments in the country via financial intermediaries (also known as “Member State Compartment”). Following the signature of the Contribution Agreement, and following the signature of the guarantee agreement (not covered by this milestone), 50% of the total amount of resources shall be approved by the InvestEU Investment Committee by Q2 2023 (Milestone 251), and the rest by Q2 2024 (Milestone 252). Evidence provided:

In line with the verification mechanism set out in the Operational Arrangements, the following evidence was provided:

1. Summary document duly justifying how the milestone (including all the constitutive elements) was satisfactorily fulfilled, including references to the relevant provisions. 2. A copy of the signed Contribution Agreement. The Contribution Agreement defines all the financial instruments covered by Milestones 247, 250 and 259. Details about the characteristics of sub-investment C9.I2b can be found under Clause 11.2 and under Annex 4, Part 2.

The authorities also provided:

3. A Memorandum of Understanding signed by Ministry of Investments and European Projects and the Ministry of Finance and addressed to the Secretary General of the Government of Romania introducing and justifying the signature of the Contribution Agreement. 4. A note prepared by the implementing partner including information on the number of beneficiaries the financial instrument is expected to support. Analysis:

All elements of the CID Annex have been addressed. In particular:

   The Contribution Agreement defines the financial instrument to be implemented as a portfolio
    guarantee (Clause of the Contribution Agreement [“Clause”] 11.2).
   In line with the Contribution Agreement and Art. 10 of the InvestEU Regulation, Romania
    proposed the EIF as implementing partner (Clause 13.2). In line with Art. 15 of the InvestEU
    Regulation and as indicated in the Council Implementing Decision (“CID”), the European
    Commission and the EIF are to sign a guarantee agreement that implements the financial
    instrument (Clause 13.1) through debt financing (Clause 11.2).
   The Contribution Agreement sets out general guidelines for the setup of the Climate Action
    Portfolio Guarantee in compliance with the CID. With respect to “scope”, the Agreement
    establishes that the portfolio guarantee will support investments in green transitioning, energy
    efficiency and renewable energy production (Clause 11.1, Annex 4, Part II, Sections 3 and 4),
    which will help to address Romania’s current challenges in supporting investments in the energy

efficiency and renewable energy sectors. In terms of “structure”, the deployment of the

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