COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on the authorisation of the disbursement of the third instalment of the non-repayable support and the third instalment of the loan support for Romania

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 28.5.2025 C(2025) 3487 final COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION of 28.5.2025 on the authorisation of the disbursement of the third instalment of the non-repayable support and the third instalment of the loan support for Romania (Only the Romanian text is authentic) EN EN  COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION of 28.5.2025 on the authorisation of the disbursement of the third instalment of the non-repayable support and the third instalment of the loan support for Romania (Only the Romanian text is authentic) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility1, and in particular Article 24(5) thereof, Whereas: (1) According to Article 4(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/241, the specific objective of the Recovery and Resilience Facility is to provide Member States with financial support with a view to achieving the milestones and targets of reforms and investments as set out in their recovery and resilience plans. (2) Council Implementing Decision of 3 November 2021 on the approval of the assessment of the recovery and resilience plan for Romania2 (the ‘Council Implementing Decision’) provides that the Union is to release instalments in accordance with the Financing Agreement and the Loan Agreement conditional on a decision by the Commission, taken in accordance with Article 24(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/241, that Romania has satisfactorily fulfilled the relevant milestones and targets identified in relation to the implementation of the recovery and resilience plan. (3) On 15 December 2023, Romania submitted a request for payment, accompanied by a management declaration and a summary of audits. The request concerned the third instalment of the non-repayable support and the third instalment of the loan support. Pursuant to Article 24(3) of Regulation (EU) 2021/241, the Commission assessed on a preliminary basis whether the relevant milestones and targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision had been satisfactorily fulfilled. For the purpose of this assessment, the operational arrangements concluded between the Commission and Romania3 in accordance with Article 20(6) of Regulation (EU) 2021/241, were taken into account. (4) The Commission made a positive preliminary assessment of the satisfactory fulfilment of 39 out of 43 relevant milestones and targets related to the non-repayable support and 29 out of 31 relevant milestones and targets related to the loan support and, in 1 OJ L 57, 18.2.2021, p. 17. 2 ST 12319/21; ST 12319/21 ADD 1 as amended by ST15833/23; ST 15833/23 ADD 1 3 Recovery and Resilience Facility Operational arrangements between the European Commission and Romania, entered into force on 25 May 2022. The amendment to the operational arrangements entered into force on 15 March 2024. EN 1 EN  accordance with Article 24(4) of Regulation (EU) 2021/241, provided its findings to the Economic and Financial Committee asking for its opinion on the satisfactory fulfilment of the relevant milestones and targets. In accordance with Article 25(4) of that Regulation, the Commission provided the competent committee of the European Parliament with an overview of its preliminary findings concerning the satisfactory fulfilment of the relevant milestones and targets. The Economic and Financial Committee agreed with the Commission’s positive preliminary assessment and considered that Romania has satisfactorily fulfilled 39 out of 43 relevant milestones and targets related to the non-repayable support and 29 out of 31 relevant milestones and targets related to the loan support associated with the payment request. The Commission has taken the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee into account for its assessment. (5) Section 2.1.3 of the Annex to the Council Implementing Decision provides the relevant milestones and targets that are to be satisfactorily fulfilled for the third instalment of the non-repayable support for an amount of EUR 1 858 678 580. (6) Section 2.2.3 of the Annex to the Council Implementing Decision provides the relevant milestones and targets that are to be satisfactorily fulfilled for the third instalment of the loan support for an amount of EUR 811 026 482. (7) Milestone 3 provides that the Romanian Environmental Fund Administration shall sign implementation agreements with the local authorities participating in the First Connection to Water and Sanitation Programme. The evidence provided by Romania demonstrates that nine contracts covering the connection of 9 726 households were concluded between the Environmental Fund Administration and the local authorities. On the basis of the due justification provided, the milestone should be considered as satisfactorily fulfilled. (8) Milestone 22 provides for the adoption of the National Forest Strategy 2020-2030. The evidence provided by Romania demonstrates that the strategy is based on the recommendations of independent studies and sets out binding rules for afforestation and reforestation. The Council Implementing Decision required the adoption of the Strategy by 30 September 2022. The National Forest Strategy entered into force on 5 October 2022, as evidenced by Government Decision No. 1227/2022. Whilst this constitutes a minimal substantive deviation, the National Forest Strategy had entered into force at the time of the assessment. On the basis of the due justification provided, the milestone should be considered as satisfactorily fulfilled. (9) Milestone 23 provides for the entry into force of amended Ministerial Ordinances in accordance with the binding rules for afforestation and reforestation outlined in the National Forest Strategy 2020-2030 (milestone 22). The evidence provided by Romania demonstrates the entry into force of a set of Ministerial Orders on amending technical rules for forest management plans, forest regeneration and afforestation of degraded lands, care and management of tree stands, and the choice and application of treatments. On the basis of the due justification provided, the milestone should be considered as satisfactorily fulfilled. (10) Milestone 43 provides for the adoption of the National Circular Economy Strategy, covering the whole life cycle of products based on the recommendations of the EU- funded Technical Support Instrument project. The evidence provided by Romania demonstrates that Romania adopted the National Circular Economy Strategy which defines a governance framework for collaboration between stakeholders, identifies key economic sectors, as well as regulatory, financial and information management EN 2 EN  methods and tools to support circular initiatives. It also defines the revision of incentives to make recycling more convenient than landfilling and incineration and is expected to contribute to the EU targets on waste recycling and reduction of the high landfilling rates. On the basis of the due justification provided, the milestone should be considered as satisfactorily fulfilled. (11) Milestone 46 provides for the entry into force of the legislative acts necessary for the operationalisation of a unitary waste management in line with the National Waste Management Plan. The evidence provided by Romania demonstrates that three legislative acts entered into force for regulating extended producer responsibility according to the Waste Framework Directive, for amending the Sanitation Law, as well as for amending the National Regulatory Authority for Community Public Utilities Services Order on Sanitation Tariff Methodology, and that they concern the operationalisation of a unitary waste management in line with the National Waste Management Plan. The Council Implementing Decision required the entry into force of legislative acts necessary to consolidate compliant waste management in Romania, in particular through the governance measures on municipal waste management in the National Waste Management Plan, in order to achieve the waste management targets of the EU Waste Framework Directive. The governance measures on municipal waste management in the National Waste Management Plan included a recommendation to revise the national list of waste accepted in each class of landfill in order to prohibit the landfilling of separately collected waste. Romania has not revised such list but adopted Government Ordinance No. 2/2021 which prohibits the storage of separately collected waste. Whilst this constitutes a minimal substantive deviation from the requirement of the Council Implementing Decision, both a change in the list and a direct prohibition are legally binding and the objective to prohibit the storage of separately collected waste was achieved. As of this, this minimal deviation does not affect the progress towards achieving the reform that the milestone represents. On this basis, it is considered that this constitutive element of the milestone is satisfactorily fulfilled. Furthermore, the Council Implementing Decision required the entry into force of legislative acts necessary to consolidate compliant waste management in Romania, in particular through the governance measures on municipal waste management in the National Waste Management Plan, in order to achieve the waste management targets of the EU Waste Framework Directive. The governance measures on municipal waste management in the National Waste Management Plan included a recommendation to amend the legislation to implement a single payment method (fee or tariff). Romania has implemented a single payment method through harmonisation of calculations of fees and tariffs, whereby fees and tariffs both remain options at local level. Whilst this constitutes a minimal substantive deviation from the requirement of the Council Implementing Decision, the choice to maintain both fees and tariffs as options at local level does not jeopardise the objective of the recommendation, nor the objective to achieve the waste management targets of the EU Waste Framework Directive. As explained in Section II.3.8 of the National Waste Management Plan, regarding the assessment of the achievement of the objectives and issues requiring improvement, the problem the recommendation intends to address was the existence of a heterogeneous system with regard to the payment mechanism for sanitation services (further described in Section II.3.5), which also led to difficulties in the correct implementation of economic instruments. ANRSC Order No. 640/2022 provides the harmonised methodology to calculate tariffs and fees for the implementation of all economic instruments and related to the waste management activities provided for in the EU Waste Framework Directive. This harmonised methodology ensures that the EN 3 EN  amounts paid by users are the same regardless of whether fees or tariffs are used by the local public authority. Therefore, and since the harmonised methodology implements the economic instruments provided for by the EU Waste Framework Directive, the harmonised methodology is expected to achieve the same objective as imposing either tariffs or fees, namely the use of a single payment method. As of this, this minimal deviation does not affect the progress towards achieving the reform that the milestone represents and it is considered that this constitutive element of the milestone is satisfactorily fulfilled. On the basis of the due justification provided, the milestone should be considered as satisfactorily fulfilled. (12) Milestone 66 provides for the entry into force of legislative changes promoting road safety. The evidence provided by Romania demonstrates that the road safety legislation has entered into force introducing legislative changes in line with the following requirements of the milestone: (i) enforce compliance rules and introduce higher penalties for breaches of the law; (ii) monitor road offences using automatic equipment; (iii) reduce speed limits in specific areas or roads based on accidents data/risk analysis and best practices at EU level; (iv) introduce speed management system and mandatory safety features, including revising traffic rules and priority for vulnerable users; (v) phase out old/deficient vehicles from the national register, and (vi) increase safety inspections and checks. The Council Implementing Decision states that the overall goal for road safety shall aim for a 50% reduction of fatalities in road accidents by 2030 as compared to 2019, in line with the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030. The recovery and resilience plan provides that the general objective for road safety is to have a 50% reduction in road fatalities by 2030 compared to 2019, in line with EU commitments (page 34 and 42). In light of the purposive interpretation of this requirement from the Council Implementing Decision, this element is interpreted as setting out a legally binding requirement that the goal for road safety is a 50% reduction of fatalities in road accidents by 2030 compared to 2019, in line with the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030. The authorities approved the National Road Safety Strategy by Government Decision No. 682 of 25 May 2022. The strategy sets the objective of reaching a 50% reduction of fatalities and seriously injured persons in road accidents by 2030 compared to 2019, in line with the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030 (Next steps towards ‘Vision zero’), as mentioned under its section 5 - Objectives (page 18). The annexes to the strategy provide a set of actions to be implemented by 2030 for reaching this objective of road safety. Additionally, the authorities approved Law No. 383/2022 regarding some measures to improve the efficiency of road traffic monitoring, and Article 1(3) of this Law establishes that, by implementing e-SIGUR, the authorities aim to achieve the objective of the National Road Safety Strategy to reduce by 50% the number of fatalities and seriously injured persons in road accidents until 2030 compared to 2019. Furthermore, as further detailed on page 4 of the Statement of reasons of Law No. 383/2022, this objective is set as a first step towards reaching the objective of the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030 to reduce the number of deaths in road accidents to almost zero by 2050. On this basis, it is considered that this constitutive element of the milestone is satisfactorily fulfilled. On the basis of the due justification provided, the milestone should be considered as satisfactorily fulfilled. (13) Milestone 90 provides for the amendment the existing legislative framework on the multiannual national programme for improving the energy performance of residential buildings. The evidence provided by Romania demonstrates that Romania amended the relevant legislative framework, (i) increasing the level of ambition of energy renovations to at least 30% to 60% primary energy savings for re