Romania will send proposals to the European Commission to amend its National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the Ministry of European Investments and Projects said on Saturday, according to Euractiv.
The ministry cites the possibility of changing the national recovery plan in case of a substantial change in the geopolitical and economic situation based on Article 21 of the EU Regulation on the national recovery plans.
Proposed changes include the introduction of vouchers for the installation of photovoltaic panels and replacing Line 4 with a subway between Bucharest and Otopeni Airport.
The ministry also wants to eliminate the currently fixed percentage of 9.4% allocated to pension expenses and replace it with an indexation rule that will adjust the pension expenses as a percentage of GDP in line with the financial stability objectives.
According to the ministry, changes to the national plan are also necessary as Romania is set to lose over €2 billion in grants due to the better-than-expected economic growth that is now projected for the country.
The proposed set of measures strengthens the resilience of the national energy system with a positive impact in supporting the acceleration of Europe’s transition to clean energy, the ministry added.
In the context of REPowerEU, the proposed changes also include creating a legal framework for using non-productive land owned by the state for green energy production and improving the legislative framework for prosumers and energy-autonomous villages.
However, according to former Secretary of State for European Funds Marius Vasiliu (USR), structural reforms such as special pensions and salaries cannot be eliminated, which could mean additional financing from loans may be required to cover the cost differences.