Summary of the assessment of the Romanian recovery and resilience plan

r equal opportunities and access to the labour market, a particular focus is given to expend the availability of good quality early childhood education and care and improve access for the most disadvantaged that should help pupils achieve better learning outcomes and parents to join, more easily, the labour market. Similarly, measures targeted at reducing early school leaving will have an impact on marginalised communities, whose children are most at risk of abandonment. Reforming vocational education and training (VET), coupled with measures such as the introduction of a skills forecasting mechanism, will provide better career prospects and skills for VET graduates (many of which are also part of disadvantaged communities). The delivery of the minimum inclusion income reform is expected to bring a positive impact on employment, due to the accompanying activation measures, and education outcomes. The introduction of a voucher system has the potential to increase female labour force participation and access to social services for the newly engaged workers. Health reforms aim to strengthen primary care and foster access to services in rural and small urban areas, including vulnerable communities. Reforms envisage to further develop e-Health services, improve the efficiency of public spending in the healthcare system, and increase the shift to outpatient care. Addressing regional disparities: the plan includes measures that are expected to reduce disparities between different territories. In particular, component 10 (Local Fund), targeting both urban and rural development, aims to provide the necessary framework for the development of the regional level through investments in local infrastructure that are expected to support the resilience and green transition of urban and rural areas, as well as to reduce territorial disparities at regional, intra-regional and intra-county level. Future investments aim to support vulnerable people, build a sustainable economy and address potential threats at local level. In addition, by providing the basic transport infrastructure in currently poorly connected regions of the country, it is expected to support the economic development of the economy in general and those specific regions in particular. Similarly, the broadband investment will provide coverage of very high-speed internet access to areas where market cannot deliver these services on its own and will enable everyone to take part in the upward social and economic convergence driven by digitalisation. Contribution to upward economic and social convergence: The plan contains several measures in priority areas, namely the environment, energy and resource efficiency, education, health, transport infrastructure and fleets, access to finance for businesses, making labour market more flexible by increasing skills, including digital, and developing sectoral policies that are expected to contribute to upward economic and social convergence. For example, the reforms related to fiscal management and pension system should support the improvement of the business environment by facilitating relations with the tax administration, and allow for more room to respond to income inequalities and poverty rates. Measures aiming at supporting disadvantaged groups in the education system should increase equal opportunities and therefore also help provide a better match between labour market demand and supply for skills. These measures can improve Romania’s long-term growth potential and foster inclusive growth by reducing disparities, fostering potential spill-over effects into the labour market and the business sector, particularly in terms of digitalisation skills. Growth and jobs will be further supported by the digital component of the Plan that provides for digital skills for all. Contribution to CSRs on taxation: Component 8 (Tax and Pension reforms) of Romania’s Plan aims to address the recommendations related to fiscal policy. Strengthening tax compliance and collection will be achieved through a full digitalisation of the tax administration, which in turn will allow to develop services for taxpayers, foster digital inclusion, and implement an integrated risk 5 The information contained in this summary is based on the documents COM(2021) 608 final and SWD(2021) 276 final, which are the authentic documents representing the Commission’s assessment of the plan. management system to increase the number and the efficiency of tax controls and support the identification of tax risks. The component also includes a gradual phase out of excessive tax incentives, which should broaden the tax base and help establishing a fairer, more efficient, simpler and more transparent tax system. Further measures in the fiscal component aimed at addressing the fiscal policy recommendations are the improvement of the management of public spending to make it more efficient and prioritised (including through regular spending reviews) and the reform of the public pension system.. 6  The information contained in this summary is based on the documents COM(2021) 608 final and SWD(2021) 276 final, which are the authentic documents representing the Commission’s assessment of the plan. Annex Table 1: Illustration of the plan’s contribution to the six policy pillars Health, and Policies Smart, Digital Social and economic, for the Green sustainable transform territorial social and next transition & inclusive ation cohesion institution generati growth al on resilience Pillar I - Green transition 1 —Water management ● ○ ○ 2 — Forests and Biodiversity ● protection 3 — Waste management ● ○ ○ 4 — Sustainable transport ● ● ● ○ 5 — Renovation Wave Fund ● ○ ○ 6 — Energy ● ○ Pillar II – Digital transformation 7 — Digital transformation ● Pillar III Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth 8 — Tax pension reforms ○ ○ ● ● ○ 9 — Business Support, ● ● research, development and innovation Pillar IV – Social and territorial cohesion 10 — Local Fund ● ○ ● 11 — Tourism and culture ○ Pillar V - Health, and economic, social and institutional resilience 12 — Healthcare ○ ○ ○ ● 13 — Social reforms ○ ● ● 14 — Good governance ● Pillar VI – Policies for the next generation 15 — Education ○ ● ○ ○ ● Key: “●” investments and reforms of the component significantly contribute to the pillar; “○” the component partially contributes to the pillar 7  The information contained in this summary is based on the documents COM(2021) 608 final and SWD(2021) 276 final, which are the authentic documents representing the Commission’s assessment of the plan. Table 2: Mapping of country challenges identified in 2019-20 country-specific recommendations and the Maltese RRP components research, development and innovation Component 8- Tax and pension reforms Component 2- Forests and Biodiversity Component 7- Digital transformation Component 11- Tourism and Culture Component 4- Sustainable transport Component 1- Water Management Component 3- Waste management Component 9- Business Support , Component 14- Good Governance Component 5- Renovation Wave Component 13- Social reform Component 10- Local Fund Component 15- Education Component 12- Health Component 6- Energy Associated CSR (2019- 2020) and Country European protection challenges Semester (as identified in recommend Section 2) ations Public finances 2019.1.2, ○ ● ○ and taxation 2019.1.3, 2019.4.2, 2020.1.2, 2020.3.2 Pension system 2019.2.2, ○ ● and long-term 2019.2.3 fiscal 2020.1.2 sustainability Health 2019.3.7, ● 2020.1.3 Public 2019.3.5, ○ ● ● ● ● ● ● administration, 2019.3.6, business 2019.4.2, environment 2019.4.3, and labour 2019.5.1, market 2019.5.2, 2020.3.1, 2020.3.3, 2020.4.1, 2020.4.2 Poverty 2019.3.3, ○ ○ ● ○ ● ○ reduction & 2019.3.4, social inclusion 2020.2.1, 2020.2.2, 2020.2.3, 2020.3.3, 2020.3.4 Education 2019.3.1 ● 2019.3.2, 2020.2.5, 2020.2.6 R&