Romania’s country snapshot

ROMANIA'S RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE PLAN #NEXTGENEU | FEBRUARY 2024 KEY FIGURES EUR 13.6 billion >31 % value in grants EUR 14.9 billion of payments requested in loans corresponding to 5.6 % of GDP1 28 % of milestones/targets Climate Target Digital Target Social Spending 44.1 % 21.8 % 23 % WHAT ARE THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROMANIAN PLAN? Ambitious reforms and investments addressing a broad range of long- standing challenges including decarbonising the energy sector, TRANSFORMATIVE developing renewable energy sources, improving access to water and sanitation, healthcare and education, and ensuring adequate pensions. Reforms and investments in renewables and energy efficiency as well SUSTAINABLE as green transport to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and contribute to the green transition. The Plan provides support for better infrastructure in education and SOCIAL health, focusing on disadvantaged groups and poorer regions, with reforms to improve access to the respective services. 1 Based on GDP in current prices for 2021.  HOW DOES THE ROMANIAN PLAN HELP CITIZENS? It helps improve people’s quality of life by promoting sustainable growth, industry decarbonisation, building renovations, biodiversity protection, and deployment of renewables, and by reducing disparities in education and healthcare, pollution, waste, and traffic congestion. FLAGSHIP EXAMPLES Improving the quality and inclusiveness of education Romania would benefit from increasing the basic skills of students and ensuring equal access to education. The Plan aims to improve the quality and inclusiveness of education, in particular for disadvantaged groups through: © Romanian government ▶ Increasing availability and quality of early childhood education and care and supporting 2500 schools to reduce early school leaving; ▶ Modernising schools and increasing digital skills; ▶ Improving higher and professional education. New hospital units and investment in healthcare equipment Treatable mortality in Romania is very high, while life expectancy is among the lowest in the EU. Romania’s Plan supports: ▶ The construction and equipping of 19 hospitals or hospital units, including providing 25 hospitals with modern © Romanian government technologies and equipment to reduce the risk of infections, and establishing 25 intensive care units for new-borns; ▶ Modernising pre-hospital infrastructure, including 2,000 family doctors' practices, 200 integrated community centres and community healthcare for 300 marginalised communities (including Roma).  HOW DOES THE ROMANIAN PLAN HELP BUSINESSES? It tackles key challenges for businesses’ competitiveness, including skills shortages and the digitalisation and greening of business practices, supporting SMEs access to finance with targeted financial instruments. FLAGSHIP EXAMPLES Skilled workforce for a competitive industry of the future Boosting digital skills increases productivity, fosters new business models and promotes the development and adoption of new technologies. To address the lack of basic digital skills in Romania, the Plan includes measures to: ▶ Better assess digital labour needs; ▶ Upskill/reskill employees in firms; ▶ Support libraries to become hubs for digital skills; © AdobeStock ▶ Support the digitalisation of universities. Digitalisation of SMEs Many of Romania’s businesses, particularly SMEs, are not yet ready for the digital transition as they lack basic digital tools and advanced technologies, such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and big data. Thanks to the Plan: ▶ 5,492 SMEs will benefit from support to uptake digital technologies/solutions, including artificial intelligence, cloud, platforms, blockchain. © AdobeStock  HOW DOES THE ROMANIAN PLAN STRENGTHEN OUR UNION? It helps to strengthen Europe’s position in a crucial supply chain and aims to increase the effectiveness of public administration, the judiciary, and the fight against corruption. FLAGSHIP EXAMPLES Cross-border and multi-country projects focused on Low Power Processors and Semiconductor Chips Recent global semiconductor shortages forced factory closures in the EU in a range of sectors, from cars to healthcare devices, showing the need to reduce this dependency, which is particularly important in a complex geopolitical context. Thanks to the Plan, 13 companies will participate in the multi- country project of Low Power Processors and Semiconductor Chips. Improving governance and fighting corruption The Plan requires the adoption of the new National Anti- Corruption Strategy and aims to increase the value of seized assets managed by the National Agency for the Management of Seized Assets by 50 %. Moreover, the reforms and investments in the Plan aim to improve the efficiency of the judicial system and access to justice, as well as to develop the logistical (non-IT) © Romanian government infrastructure needed to fight corruption and recover the proceeds and damages from crime. For more information: Romania's recovery and resilience plan — European Commission (europa.eu) © European Union, 2024 Reuse of this document is allowed, provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license). For any use or reproduction of elements that are not owned by the EU, permission may need to be sought directly from the respective right holders. All images © European Union unless otherwise stated; Icons © Flaticon PDF: KA-09-24-076-EN-N ISBN: 978-92-68-12954-8 DOI: 10.2792/520166