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Ursula von der Leyen: European Commission greenlights Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan
The European Commission is giving the greenlight to Romania's National Plan for Recovery and Resilience, said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during a joint press conference with President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Florin Citu.
Today, the European Commission is giving the greenlight to Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan. This is following a meticulous evaluation and a very good cooperation and I want to congratulate you for this and thank you for your cooperation, said the head of the Community executive.
She added that Romania's Plan answered some "very rigurous criteria".
"I really commend you for working on the minimum inclusion income, very important here too support the most vulnerable people and the low income households, and if I look at the whole set of reforms, I see that you are also reforming your education system. The next generation definitely deserves it," said Ursula von der Leyen.
She said the approval granted on Monday represents an "important milestone".
"By no means is this the end of the journey, and in some sense the hard work begins now. Now it is about implementing and delivering the Plan," said the senior official, who added that she will stand with the Romanian authorities every single step, ensuring that money is used in line with has been agreed.
"I want to emphasize how grateful I am that we had an excellent cooperation over the last weeks and months. It was a tough piece of work to get this Plan going. Like with any other member states' [plans, ed.n.], there is a lot of innovation in it, there is a lot of new topics in it and it is hard work, really, to match reform with investment and the milestones we have a greed on to deliver", the president of the European Commission added.
She spoke, in relation to the Romanian authorities responsible for Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan, of "excellent working conditions" and "trust".
"We have gone through ups and downs in developing the Plan and we know exactly what is necessary. Now, looking forward, there is a reason that there are targets and milestones, in every Plan, so also in the Romanian one that have to be met for the next tranche to be disbursed," said Ursula von der Leyen. Thus, she spoke of a control system that ensures that "EU taxpayers' money is invested in the right sense."