Preliminary assessment of the first payment request of Romania

    operational and involved in the policy-making process.
   Concerning the budget line, MoF allocated RON 3.5 billion to the MRDI for the implementation
    of all measures in Components 7 (on digitalisation) and 9 (on support to business) of the RRP.
    Some 3% (RON 17.8 million) are budget appropriations (for payments that can be executed in
    2022); the rest are commitment appropriations (they can be spent between 2022 and 2026)
    (letter No. 475379 sent by the MoF to MRDI on 27 May 2022).3 The financing order No.
    20525/17.05.2022 specifies that RON 2.4 million (half of which are budget appropriations) of the
    RON 3.5 billion are earmarked for the implementation for Reform 2 in Component 9, for which
    the achievement of Milestone 270 is a steppingstone.4
   In the summary audit accompanying the payment request, the Romanian Audit Authority’s
    identified the lack of human capacity as an obstacle to the achievement of the Milestone. At the
    time of the Authority’s assessment (19 April 2022), 8 posts were filled for the period 2021-2025

    on a full-time basis, 2 posts were filled for the period 2021-2025 with part-time contracts and 7
    posts remained vacant.
   In line with the CID Annex, the UIRPSF has received an assignment of 17 staff positions for the
    duration of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. As of 31 May 2022, the UIRPSF hired 10 staff
    members, all with a contract running through 2026 – as proven by the provisions in the
    ministerial orders of appointment of those staff members. Another competition was organised
    in June and lead to the selection of 5 new staff members of the UIRPSF, all with full-time
    contracts. The European Commission considers the current staffing adequate for the
    operationalisation of the unit.

Commission Preliminary Assessment: Satisfactorily fulfilled

3 Many investments in R&D&I are grants allocated to research projects through public competition rolling throughout 2026. The large discrepancy between budget appropriations and commitment appropriations depends in large part on the outcome of those competitions and on the number of successful projects that will be selected (within the limit set out in the CID Annex). 4 The other milestones and targets included in Reform 2 are: T271 (Share of recommendations in Policy

Support Facility adopted by the end of 2026), M272 (Entry into force of a permanent system to design, implement, monitor, and evaluate research, development, and innovation policy) and M273 (entry into force of a Government Ordinance establishing a single body that encompasses the existing councils, ensures inter- ministerial coordination, and reaches out to the private sector).

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