EU Commission President Von der Leyen visits Romania

The European Commission on Monday gave the green light to Romania's recovery and resilience plan in a step towards distributing grants and loans under the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the announcement during an official visit in Bucharest.

"Romania's plan meets the very demanding criteria we have", von der Leyen told reporters and praised the plan's focus on setting an inclusive minimum wage "to support the most vulnerable people and the low income households".

Under the EU scheme, Romania will receive 14.2 billion euros (16.6 billion USD) in grants and almost 15 billion euro (17.5 billion USD) in loans.

Romania's plan devotes approximately 41% of the funds to measures that support a green transition, aiming to phase out coal and lignite power production by 2032.

Romania will also invest 21% of the funds into its digital transition to improve public administration, connectivity, business and cyber-security.

IMAGE: AP