PNL's Mureșan and Motreanu blast PSD for PNRR delays, warn of €1 billion penalty risk
Two PNL MEPs say the Social Democrats are sabotaging the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, while the interim government warns that court actions against three milestones could cost Romania €1 billion.
Accusations of obstruction
Siegfried Mureșan, a PNL MEP, said on 29 July that the Social Democratic Party (PSD) has been trying to block Romania's modernization for over 35 years, making it incompatible with the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). He argued that the PSD prefers to lose PNRR funds rather than allow reforms.
The PSD and the PNRR have always been incompatible. The PNRR is a plan to modernize Romania through reforms and investments. Modernizing Romania through reforms is exactly what the PSD has been trying to block for over 35 years.
He added that the PSD's "country project" since Ion Iliescu has been to keep Romania stagnant, while honest people's project must be modernization.
The government's warning
The Executive led by interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan issued a statement on 28 July, accusing the PSD of trying to block several important normative acts through court actions. The government said the challenges target three PNRR milestones and risk penalties of €1 billion.
Politicking and endangering Romania's interests, the PSD harasses the Government, which it brought down without any alternative solution, with attempts to block several government decisions of great financial and social importance.
The statement said the PSD's actions jeopardize commitments under the recovery plan and support for vulnerable categories.
Payment delays and recovered funds
Mureșan detailed the financial timeline. He said the PSD and former Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu took office when Romania had already received approximately €9 billion from the PNRR, but left without bringing in a new payment request. Payment request number 3 remained blocked for more than a year due to unfulfilled milestones.
The Bolojan government, he said, managed to save €359 million from that tranche and, just four months after submission, obtained full approval for payment request number 4, worth €2.62 billion.
- Received before PSD exit
- 9 billion EUR
- Saved from request 3
- 0.359 billion EUR
- Request 4 approved
- 2.62 billion EUR
Mureșan pointed to the biggest delays at ministries led by the PSD: Transport, Health, and Labor. "They had the ministries. They had the time. But they refused reforms and delayed investments," he wrote.
Motreanu's call to stop
Dan Motreanu, another PNL MEP and the party's secretary general, said on 28 July that evasion of responsibility had become a reflex for the PSD. He described a pattern: "They block. They contest. They attack. Then they look for a scapegoat."
Stop before the PSD's political interest causes damages that all Romanians will pay!
Motreanu stressed that the PNRR is not the property of any single government or party but a commitment of the Romanian state to its citizens and European partners. He noted that the PSD held most ministries and had a decisive role in implementing the plan since its launch in 2021, yet now acts as if all delays belong to someone else.
He found it hard to understand how former PSD ministers could reproach an interim government for delays on the salary law or health sector hiring when they had years to resolve them. Motreanu also recalled that the PSD brought down the Bolojan government through a no-confidence motion, and that Bolojan accepted the vote with dignity, without attacking or victimizing himself, while continuing to work within constitutional limits to recover lost time.
