Statements by Prime Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă at the beginning of the Cabinet meeting

Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă: Good afternoon. Today is the Day of Hungarians Everywhere, I, therefore, congratulate all Romanian citizens of Hungarian ethnicity.  We have an entire set of decisions we will take at the level of the Government. The most important are linked to meeting the NRRP milestones and targets and undertaking all steps at the level of the Government so that we can absorb all money allocated through this program. I want to mention that discussions took place at the level of line ministries, with the Commission’s technical staff. Clarifications and decisions need to be made to make sure that payment request no. 2 will be approved. In this respect, there were two important aspects: one related to the law on integrity whistleblowers and, in this respect, it was necessary to change some provisions of the law, a step that was started this week. Already, at the level of the Senate, the proposal to amend the law has been approved, and next week, it will be debated and approved in the Chamber of Deputies.

The second aspect pertains to the enforcement of the decarbonization law. Today we will have a draft emergency ordinance through which, at the level of the Ministry of Energy and in full coordination with the Ministry of European Projects and Investments, we will also cover this aspect, so that, in our commitment to meeting the milestones and implementing the entire reform and investment program, we make sure that the European funds that are very necessary for all the projects in progress, reach the country.

Regarding the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, another aspect is represented by the RePowerEU program. Today we are analyzing a memorandum through which we ensure the transparency of projects whereby we will make sure, at the level of energy transport infrastructure, at the level of energy generation, and especially of green energy, there will be projects that will benefit from 1.4 billion euros, money that is complementary to the programs in progress – and I want to mention here that I approved some time ago, through the modernization program, nearly 500 million euros that will be invested in energy transport infrastructure. I want to mention that a set of projects to diversify and increase the generation capacity of electrical energy is underway, and all these can have a finality only if we manage to align the energy transport capacity too. Therefore, there is a correlation between the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of European Funds, and the Ministry of Environment, as projects to fund green energy production are being carried out through the Environment Ministry. It is necessary and I ask the three Ministers to constantly coordinate themselves so that we can properly use the money from these funding sources. It is necessary to see the impact and the effects both on the transport infrastructure and on energy generation.

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All the procedures and public transparency stages are completed, after which we will return to the document, make the decision and you will continue the steps as established.

Another important topic pertains to the environment. It is a theme that does not only concern the prospects that we have assumed, but it is also a theme that enters - and I am very glad about this - into the sphere of concerns of young people.

Today, in the Government meeting, we established a de minimis aid scheme. It is a support mechanism for the construction of waste recycling facilities. We are discussing aid worth approximately 26 million euros. Both small and medium-sized and large enterprises will benefit from this money. As such, I am sure that we can continue the steps taken and assumed at the level of the Ministry of the Environment to reduce the negative effects of waste on the environment. Last but not least, I would like to mention a decision that we will approve today, by which we secure the necessary sums to finance projects aimed at preserving and promoting the traditions, language and culture, and cultural and linguistic identity of Romanian citizens belonging to national minorities. We are discussing 235 million lei, money that will be allocated to all national minority communities. It is an approach that has continuity. It is an approach that we discussed in the meeting that we had early this week with the representatives of national minorities and we will continue to maintain this commitment, and it is also the component of our political and institutional dialogue, in line with the commitments and the steps taken at the level of the European Union in terms of cultural diversity, sharing of values and everything related to the identity of national minorities. Thank you and have a nice day!