Dragoș Pîslaru, Minister of European Funds and Interim Minister of Labour, said on Saturday, May 2, that the loss of 458.7 million euros from the PNRR is not the responsibility of the Ilie Bolojan government, but of the previous governments, whose members are now criticizing the situation.
“Part of the gentlemen because of which we lost 458.7 million Euros accuses today that Bolojan, Gheorghiu and Pîslaru are to blame.
Placing the responsibility for the failure of reforms on a government that has had a tiny window of time (June 23 – November 28, 2025) to fix years of neglect is simply insensible.”Pîslaru said on Facebook.
The minister states that the reforms in payment request 3 had to be completed by the first quarter of 2023.
“Request 3 was submitted, 9 months late, on December 15, 2023, under Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. They were late. At the time of submission, Minister Adrian Câciu assumed under his official signature before the European Commission that the benchmarks were met satisfactorily. They lied”
Dragoș Pîslaru adds that the documents were checked by the EC, which found that the reforms in question were not properly carried out.
“There followed a period of 1 year and 5 months in which the governments of the time had time to remedy and justify, but in fact they postponed and procrastinated. They avoided reforms.
The Commission found that nothing was moving and decided in May 2025 to partially suspend the payment for the 4 reforms – special pensions, AMEPIP and appointments to CAs in the field of energy and transport. They collected it over the counter and the public found out”
“When the Government led by Ilie Bolojan took over the mandate, the remaining time was extremely short”
The minister said that Romania had until November 28, 2025 to solve the problems, so when the government led by Ilie Bolojan took office, the remaining time was very short.
“The main problems that needed to be solved:
- special pensions: responsible – Ministry of Labor;
- operationalization of AMEPIP: responsible – the General Secretariat of the Government
- governance of state energy companies: responsible – Ministry of Energy;
- governance of state transport companies: responsible – Ministry of Transport.”
In some areas we have been able to make progress. In others, the delays were so great that they could not be fully repaired within months.”
Dragoș Pîslaru also says that 350.7 million euros were recovered through diplomatic and technical efforts, but the rest were lost due to delays in special pensions, the politicization of the AMEPIP institution and appointments based on political criteria in state companies, instead of transparent selections.
“This is the reality. Not because I say so, but because it emerges from the official documents of the European Commission, which, in the light of the very “inspired” accusations coming from those who buried the PNRR, I decided to publish them openly, on the Ministry’s website. Because Romanians have the right to know the truth.”
This week, Bolojan pointed out, before the meeting in Cotroceni with Nicusor Dan and the leaders of the pro-European parties, that accessing the money from PNRR is essential and depends on the adoption of some reforms and the fulfillment of several milestones assumed by Romania.
The Prime Minister emphasized that the money from PNRR represents an essential resource for the development of Romania, given that approximately 10 billion euros must be attracted by August, an amount that represents a significant part of public investments.
Ilie Bolojan explained that access to European money is conditional on the fulfillment of some reforms and so-called benchmarks assumed by Romania within the PNRR. By summer, the authorities must complete dozens of such targets, each with a direct impact on the amount of money received or lost.
