PNL MEP Siegfried Mureșan claims that the Government led by Ilie Bolojan brought Romania, for the first time, among the states with the best absorption of European cohesion funds, stating that the rate of absorption increased almost 8 times compared to the period of the Marcel Ciolacu Government.
Mureșan also distributed a table of the European Commission and compared the evolution of the absorption of European funds during the period of the two governments.
“Is that why he was dismissed by the PSD? The Bolojan government brought Romania, for the first time, among the leading states in the absorption of European funds. The European Commission table shows very clearly how low Romania was at the end of 2024 (during the Ciolacu Government), below the European Union average, in terms of the absorption of European cohesion funds”. wrote the PNL MEP on Facebook.
According to him, in 2024, the Ciolacu Government had an effective absorption of only 600 million euros from non-refundable cohesion funds, equivalent to an average of 50 million euros per month.
Instead, in the first six months of 2026, the Bologna Government would have attracted 2.3 billion euros, which is about 383 million euros monthly.
“So we’re talking about an almost 8-fold increase in the effective absorption rate,” Muresan stated.
The MEP also claimed that, at the end of 2024, Romania had an effective absorption rate of 2%, including pre-financing, below the European Union average of 2.7%. Currently, according to him, Romania would have reached an absorption rate of 24.6%, above the European average of 17.8%.
Constant accusations are made between the current and former governments regarding the management of European funds and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
On Friday, former prime minister Marcel Ciolacu, currently president of the Buzău County Council, accused prime minister Ilie Bolojan and minister Dragoș Pîslaru of being the authors “a premeditated crime” which would cost Romania billions of euros from the PNRR, claiming that the Interim Government has unduly delayed sending seven projects considered essential to Parliament.
In another reaction, Siegfried Mureșan claimed that Romania’s economic development cannot be based on the “Ciolacu model”, which he accuses of encouraging consumption by spending public money, at the expense of investments and supporting Romanian enterprises.
