Preliminary assessment of the second payment request of Romania

(…) - improve performance-based budgetary planning and increase result-orientation (…) By introducing efficiency and result indicators for budgetary planning, and making the monitoring of indicators mandatory as part of the six-monthly and annual reporting (Art. VI(2) of the Annex to the Government Decision), the Government Decision improves performance-based budgetary planning and increases result-orientation. Article I(g) of the Annex to the Government Decision specifies that the draft annual budget laws and budgets shall be prepared by the Government, through the Ministry of Finance, on the basis of programmes drawn up by the Chief Authorising Officers in order to finance actions, to which precise objectives and indicators of results and efficiency are associated; the programmes shall be accompanied by an annual estimate of the performance of each programme.

(…) - clearly define objectives, targets, results of actions, the impact of policies (…) Article IV of the Annex to the Government Decision defines the content of budgetary programmes. Specifically, Section B states that:

       the objective of the programme defines the target that the public institution plans to
        achieve as a result of the implementation of the programme. This corresponds to the
        objectives required by the description of the milestone;The Government Decision provides
        a single definition including objective and target. Based on this definition, targets are a
        subset of objectives and are therefore differentiated;

Section C states that:

       the results of actions/measures are services or products provided by a public institution
        according to its intended purpose and for which it is fully responsible. These correspond to
        the results of actions required by the description of the milestone;
       the results of public policies describe in a measurable way the changes in economic,
        competitive, cultural, social, financial-fiscal, administrative-institutional, IT, regulatory,
        planning and statistical fields, etc. Given that results described in the Government Decision
        are quantifiable, it is understood that they refer to the impact of policies required by the
        description of the milestone.

Article VI(2) of the Annex to the Government Decision states that the Chief Authorising Officers are required to draw up and attach to the annual financial statements and annual performance reports, elaborated by programme managers, setting out, for each programme, the objectives, expected and achieved results, indicators and associated costs. Expected results of each programme correspond to the targets that the public institution plans to achieve as a result of the implementation of the programme, as required by the description of the milestone.

• - clearly define (…) indicators allowing both rigorous ex-ante debates on the public policies

to be financed and a transparent and reasoned assessment of how the budgeted programmes have achieved public policy objectives and targets. (…) Article IV, Section C, of the Annex to the Government Decision defines efficiency indicators as measurable factors showing the relationship between the results achieved and the resources allocated to achieving them (unit cost of a product, good or service provided by a public institution), characterising the efficiency of the programme and reflecting costs per activity/supported entity/services delivered, etc.

34