Preliminary assessment of the third payment request of Romania (2024)

annual budgetary planning for the significant public investment projects and have an ex-post evaluation of expenditure reviews made by the Fiscal Council Qualitative Indicator: Provision in the law indicating the entry into force of the amendments to ensure multi-annual budgetary planning for the significant Time: Q4 2022 public investment projects Context:

Milestone #199 is part of reform C8.R3, which aims at improving the budgetary programming mechanism and modernising the IT system for the development and management of the national budget.

Milestone #199 requires the entry into force of an amended regulatory framework, which establishes multi-annual budgetary planning for significant public investment projects and the ex- post evaluation of expenditure reviews conducted by the Fiscal Council.

Milestone #199 is the second step of the implementation of the reform. It will be followed by milestones #201, #202, #203 and #204, related to: the completion of the spending review in health and education sectors; the adoption of a multi-annual strategy and calendar for a systematic expenditure review across all sectors; 2024 draft budgetary law includes the recommendations of spending reviews (health and education); and the entry into force of the law for tasking the Fiscal Council with a regular impact assessment of spending reviews and the preparation of an implementation report.

The reform has a final expected date for implementation on 30 June 2024.

Evidence provided:

The following evidence was provided:

  i.    Summary document duly justifying how the milestone (including all the constitutive
        elements) was satisfactorily fulfilled;
  ii.   Copy of Government Emergency Ordinance No. 187/2022 on measures to fulfil milestones
        of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan in the area of public investment and spending
        reviews, published in the Official Journal No. 1271 on 29 December 2022;
 iii.   Copy of Decision No. 1574/2022 amending Government Decision No. 225/2014 approving
        the methodological rules on the prioritisation of public investment projects, published in
        the Official Journal No. 1277 on 30 December 2022.
Analysis:

The justification and substantiating evidence provided by the Romanian authorities cover all constitutive elements of the milestone. Specifically:

Entry into force of the amended regulatory framework to ensure multi-annual budgetary planning for the significant public investment projects and have an ex-post evaluation of expenditure reviews made by the Fiscal Council

Government Emergency Ordinance No. 187/2022 on measures to fulfil milestones of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan in the area of public investment and spending reviews (hereinafter referred to as “Government Emergency Ordinance No. 187/2022”) was published in the Official Journal No. 1271 on 29 December 2022, and entered into force on the date of its publication in the Official Journal, that is on 29 December 2022, as established by Article 12(2) of Law No. 24/2000 on