COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION on Romania’s 2013 national reform programme
The Council has examined Romania’s convergence programme, and its opinion is reflected in particular in recommendation below,
Romania should take action within the period 2013-2014 to:
-
Complete the EU/IMF financial assistance programme.
2. Ensure growth-friendly fiscal consolidation and implement the budgetary strategy for the year 2013 and beyond as envisaged, thus ensuring achievement of the medium-term objective by 2015. Improve tax collection by implementing a comprehensive tax compliance strategy and fight undeclared work. In parallel, explore ways to increase reliance on environmental taxes. Equalise the pensionable age for men and women and underpin the pension reform by promoting the employability of older workers.
3. Pursue health sector reforms to increase its efficiency, quality and accessibility, in particular for disadvantaged people and remote and isolated communities. Reduce the excessive use of hospital care including by strengthening outpatient care.
4. Improve labour market participation, as well as employability and productivity of the labour force, by reviewing and strengthening active labour market policies, to provide training and individualised services and promoting lifelong learning. Enhance the capacity of the National Employment Agency to increase the quality and coverage of its services. To fight youth unemployment, implement without delay the National Plan for Youth Employment, including for example through a Youth Guarantee. To alleviate poverty, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of social transfers with a particular focus on children. Complete the social assistance reform by adopting the relevant legislation and strengthening its link with activation measures. Ensure concrete delivery of the National Roma integration strategy.
5. Speed up the education reform including the building up of administrative capacity at both central and local level and evaluate the impact of the reforms. Step up reforms in vocational education and training. Further align tertiary
education with the needs of the labour market and improve access for disadvantaged people. Implement a national strategy on early school leaving focusing on better access to quality early childhood education, including for Roma children. Speed up the transition from institutional to alternative care for children deprived of parental care.
6. Strengthen governance and the quality of institutions and the public administration, in particular by improving the capacity for strategic and budgetary planning, by increasing the professionalism of the public service through improved human resource management and by strengthening the mechanisms for coordination between the different levels of government. Significantly improve the quality of regulations through the use of impact assessments, and systematic evaluations. Step up efforts to accelerate the absorption of EUfunds in particular by strengthening management and control systems and improving public procurement.
7. Improve and simplify the business environment in particular through reducing
administrative burdens on SMEs and implementing a coherent e-government
strategy. Ease and diversify access to finance for SMEs. Ensure closer links between research, innovation and industry, in particular by prioritising research and development activities that have the potential to attract private investment. Step up efforts to improve the quality, independence and efficiency of the judicial system in resolving cases and fight corruption more effectively.
8. Promote competition and efficiency in network industries, by ensuring the
independence and capacity of national regulatory authorities, and by continuing the corporate governance reform of state-owned enterprises in the energy and transport sectors. Adopt a comprehensive long-term transport plan and improve broadband infrastructure. Continue to remove regulated gas and electricity prices and improve energy efficiency. Improve the cross-border integration of energy networks and speed up implementation of the gas interconnection projects.