Economy Minister Spataru: “Romania has the potential to become an industrial pole of the European Union”

“I am glad that we are talking about PNRR at a time when we have already exceeded 2 stages, respectively 2 quarters in which the Government has kept its promises. The economic component should have been much more present in such a plan, but we know that this plan was made in 2020 and later revised. It is normal for the Romanian Government to keep these promises because it is our obligation as a member state to show that we can complete this plan, which is a challenge for many countries,” Economy Minister Florin Spataru said during Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan Conference 2022 organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.

“This PNRR comes with two components. The first component is the reform component. There we respected our obligations, but we also drew attention to some objectives that should be re-discussed and that we should consider in the next period.

From the perspective of the investment component, we started that microelectronics program, which we completed in record time.

The impact of PNRR on the Romanian economy is significant. We can talk about a new reindustrialization and the transfer of industrialization from the sector of intensive use of fossil mineral resources to the area of ​​gas, electricity and green energy.

The digital component will have an increasing impact and Romania has the chance to come up with investment programs, in a first phase through the government cloud. It will have an impact on the administration, it will impact the way the economy manages to transform, but it will also impact each of us.

In PNRR there is also the educational component. From an HR perspective, we considered the PNRR specifications to be relatively generic. The educational transformation from a digital perspective will have to be put into practice in a much more concrete way.

Romania’s economy will be clearly impacted by PNRR. Romania has the potential to represent an industrial pole of the European Union, in the current context of the rebirth of the EU economy. The government has shown that it can meet those targets and milestones as they have been assumed.

We must also have a critical approach for a possible adaptation of PNRR to the Romanian economy. This PNRR can take the Romanian economy to another level, but not only this plan. In addition to these impressive funds through PNRR, we also have the structural funds that must be directed towards the same objectives, so that in 2030 Romania will have an economy that respects the principles of decarbonization and digitalization, aligned with EU objectives.

I had a discussion with the Council of Foreign Investors and they told me that Romania’s economy could grow 4.5 times in 2040, but for this goal we must start working from now on through PNRR and another economic approach.

I believe that the energy transformation strategy must not be abandoned. We are living in a difficult period, with dysfunctions in the supply chains, and this energy crisis. We have 3 crises that overlap at the moment. The strategy is not crisis-based. You can adapt it, but that does not mean that the strategic transformation process must be abandoned.”

Full recording of the conference here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5f1JNCEe-I&t=5504s