Further to a request from Romania on 7 August 2020, the Council, by means of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355 (2), granted financial assistance to Romania in the form of a loan amounting to a maximum of EUR 4 099 244 587 with a maximum average maturity of 15 years, with a view to complementing Romania’s national efforts to address the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and respond to the socioeconomic consequences of that outbreak for workers and the self-employed.
(2)
The loan was to be used by Romania to finance a short-time work scheme, similar measures and health-related measures, as referred to in Article 3 of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355.
(3)
The COVID-19 outbreak has immobilised a substantial part of the labour force in Romania. This has led to repeated sudden and severe increases in public expenditure in Romania in respect of new measures, namely those referred to in recitals 11, 12 and 16 to 34 of this Decision, and measures referred to in Article 3, points (a), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h) and (i), of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355.
(4)
The COVID-19 outbreak and the extraordinary measures implemented by Romania in 2020, 2021 and 2022 to contain that outbreak and its socioeconomic and health-related impact had, and are still having, a dramatic impact on public finances. In 2020, Romania had a general government deficit and debt of 9,3 % and 47,2 % of gross domestic product (GDP) respectively, which changed to 7,1 % and 48,8 % respectively at the end of 2021. According to the Commission’s 2022 spring forecast, Romania is expected to have a general government deficit and debt of 7,5 % and 50,9 % of GDP respectively by the end of 2022. Romania’s GDP is projected to increase by 2,6 % in 2022.
(5)
On 26 May 2022, Romania requested the Union to extend the list of measures for which financial assistance had already been granted by means of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355 in order to further complement its national efforts undertaken in 2020 to address the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and respond to the socioeconomic consequences of the outbreak for workers and the self-employed (‘the request’). In particular, Romania introduced and further extended a series of short-time work schemes and similar measures set out in recitals 6 to 12.
(6)
‘Government Emergency Ordinance 30/2020’ (3), as referred to in Article 3, point (a), of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355, provides for a benefit to employees of employers that reduce or temporarily interrupt their activity because of the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. The benefit is capped at 75 % of those employees’ basic salary (but no more than 75 % of the average gross salary in the economy) for the duration of the state of emergency. The measure was extended by means of ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 111/2021’ (4) until December 2021 and by means of ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 2/2022’ (5) until March 2022.
(7)
‘Government Emergency Ordinance 132/2020’ (6), as referred to in Article 3, point (c), of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355, introduced a short-time work scheme, under which, in the event of a temporary reduction of activity caused by the state of emergency or alert, the employer is able to reduce the working hours of employees by up to 50 %. During the period of working-time reduction, affected employees benefit from an indemnity of 75 % of the difference between the gross salary for normal working time and their actual salary. The measure was amended by means of ‘Law 58/2021’, which extended it until June 2022, three months after the end of the state of alert.
(8)
‘Government Emergency Ordinance 30/2020’ (7), Article XV, and ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 132/2020’ (8), Article 3, as referred to in Article 3, points (d) and (e), of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355, introduced two measures for the self-employed and the liberal professions. For those who stopped work entirely because of the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, the State provides a benefit of 75 % of the average gross salary in Romania for the duration of the state of emergency. For those who reduce their working hours, the State provides a benefit of up to 41,5 % of the average gross salary until June 2022, three months after the end of the state of alert. The first measure, as referred to in Article 3, point (d), of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355, has been extended by ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 111/2021’ (9) and ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 2/2022’. The second measure, as referred to in Article 3, point (e), of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355, has been extended by ‘Law 58/2021’ (10).
(9)
‘Government Emergency Ordinance 132/2020’ (11), approved by means of ‘Law 282/2020’ (12), and its subsequent amendments ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 182/2020’ (13), ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 211/2020’ (14), which was approved by means of ‘Law 58/2021’ (15), ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 220/2020’ (16), ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 226/2020’ (17), ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 44/2021’ (18), ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 111/2021’ (19) and ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 2/2022’ (20), as referred to in Article 3, point (f), of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355, introduced a measure providing a support allowance of 35 % of the due remuneration per working day, for a maximum period of three months, for daily labourers who stop working as a result of the suspension of business activities because of the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. The measure was extended until June 2022, three months after the end of the state of alert.
(10)
‘Law 19/2020’ (21), Article 3, as extended by ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 147/2020’ (22), Article 4(3), and ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 110/2021’ (23), Article 7, provided a childcare bonus for employees of the national system of defence, penitentiaries, public-health units and other categories of the public sector established through ministerial orders. The benefit is conditional on the other parent not benefitting from alternative rights that grant days off to parents for the supervision of children in the event of the temporary closure of educational units. That measure can be considered to be a measure similar to short-time work schemes, as referred to in Regulation (EU) 2020/672, as it provides income support to employees, which will help to cover the costs of childcare during school closures and therefore help parents to continue working, thereby preventing putting the employment relationship at risk. The measure has been extended over time, including the school years in 2021 and in 2022, and has also been broadened to include private-sector employees.
(11)
‘Law 136/2020’ (24) and its subsequent amendments, as well as ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 70/2020’ (25), Article 13, as referred to in the request, granted a sick-leave benefit to quarantined persons and persons diagnosed with COVID-19 infection.
(12)
‘Government Emergency Ordinance 132/2020’ (26), Article 6, as referred to in the request, included a measure for one-time financial support of RON 2 500 to employers for each employee working remotely for the purchase of packages of technological goods and services necessary for teleworking activities. The measure applies for employers whose employees have teleworked during the state of emergency and the state of alert for at least 15 working days in 2020. That measure can be considered to be a measure similar to short-time work schemes, as referred to in Regulation (EU) 2020/672, because of its intended purpose and economic effect. By facilitating teleworking in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it helps preserve the employment relationship. It also provides income support to employees in the form of a fringe benefit, helping to cover the costs of home-office expenditure to allow the performance of work during lockdown and subsequent restrictions.
(13)
Romania also introduced and further extended a series of health-related measures to address the COVID-19 outbreak. In particular, this concerns the measures referred to in recitals 14 to 34.
(14)
‘Government Emergency Ordinance 11/2020’ (27), as extended by ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 131/2020’ (28), Article 2, and ‘Law 136/2020’ (29), Article 6, as referred to in Article 3, point (g), of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355, provides for a bonus for additional work for the personnel of the specialty structures of the National Public Health Institute and the county public-health directorates and the public-health directorate of Bucharest who act towards coordinating and implementing measures for the prevention and limitation of events related to the COVID-19 global public-health emergency. The measure provides for a benefit equivalent to 75 % of the basic salary for hours worked over the normal working hours and to 100 % of the basic salary for hours worked on weekends, legal holidays and other days not counted as working days. That measure can be considered to be a health-related measure within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2020/672. The measure was extended in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and will remain in force for as long as the WHO considers that COVID-19 qualifies as a global pandemic.
(15)
‘Law 56/2020’ (30), Article 7, and its subsequent amendment by means of ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 116/2021’ (31), as referred to in Article 3, point (i), of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355, grants as a temporary measure a bonus for particularly dangerous working conditions of up to 30 % granted for recognition of the merits of medical personnel who participated in the medical response to COVID-19. The measure was in force for the period March 2020 to August 2020. The measure was broadened to include the personnel responsible for the enforcement of sanitary measures under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
(16)
‘Government Emergency Ordinance 131/2020’ (32), Article 1(1a) and (1b), as referred to in the request, allows the granting of a bonus of between 30 % and 40 % of the basic salary to the personnel of the county public-health directorates and of the public-health directorate of Bucharest. The executive director and the deputy executive directors are to benefit from a bonus of 40 % of the basic salary; the civil servants employed with the control service in public health are to benefit from a bonus of 30 % of the basic salary.
(17)
‘Law 136/2020’ (33), Article 19(3), as referred to in the request, grants a secondment allowance amounting to 50 % and a per diem bonus of 2 % of the basic salary for medical specialists, paramedical and auxiliary personnel in the public system. The allowance is for the personnel seconded, in situations of epidemiological or biological risk for a term of 30 days, to health units with shortages of personnel, and responsible for limiting and preventing the spread of COVID-19.
(18)
‘Government Decision 254/2020’ (34), Sole Article, ‘Government Decision 840/2020’ (35), Sole Article, ‘Government Decision 383/2021’ (36), Sole Article, ‘Government Decision 1072/2021’ (37) and ‘Government Decision 496/2022’ (38), as referred to in the request, provided for the temporary financing of salary costs related to the opening of 2 000 new positions to reinforce the health directorates and the public ambulance services (1 000 in each) in order to counteract the spread of COVID-19.
(19)
‘Government Decision 1035/2020’ (39), Sole Article, point 3, as referred to in the request, grants a bonus of between 75 % and 85 % of the basic salary for the specialty medical personnel and auxiliary medical personnel from public-health units or the structures thereof, as applicable, and for the specialty personnel from the paraclinical medical structures directly involved in the transport, equipment, assessment, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 patients.
(20)
‘Government Decision 1031/2020’ (40) and ‘Government Emergency Ordinance 3/2021’ (41), as referred to in the request, provided for the payment of medical-sanitary personnel and medical registrars who carry out their activity within COVID-19 vaccination centres organised in locations other than those within health units. The measure also financed current and capital expenditures to make the vaccination centres (organised in locations other than health facilities) operational.
(21)
‘Government Emergency Ordinance 3/2021’ (42) and ‘Government Decision 1031/2020’ (43), as referred to in the request, provided for the payment of medical-sanitary personnel and medical registrars who carry out their activity within COVID-19 vaccination centres organised in health units, as well as the payment of the family doctors for the activities provided for those purposes.
(22)
‘Government Decision 1031/2020’ (44), as referred to in the request, regulated the purchase of COVID-19 vaccine doses. The framework agreements have been concluded by the Commission on behalf of and for the Member States.
(23)
‘Government Decision 201/2020’ (45), ‘Government Decision 1103/2020’ (46) and ‘Minister of Health Order 725/2020’ (47), as referred to in the request, regulated the expenses for the quarantine of people in designated areas with confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, people on the list established by the COVID-19 Surveillance Methodology and medical staff diagnosed with COVID-19 who do not require hospitalisation or staff who interacted with patients and choose to stay away from their home. The measure covers general allowances (for items such as food, accommodation, transport and medicines).
(24)
‘Government Decision 1092/2020’ (48), ‘Government Decision 380/2021’ (49), ‘Government Decision 1017/2021’ (50) and ‘Government Decision 1190/2021’ (51) provided for the purchase of the medication Remdesivir and of monoclonal antibody medicine for COVID-19 treatment that contains Casirivimab and Imdevimab. The procurement procedures for both medications have been conducted by the Commission on behalf of the Member States within framework contracts (52), as referred to in the request.
(25)
‘Minister of Health Order 487/2020’ (53), as referred to in the request, provided for the purchase of medications for the treatment of COVID-19 infected patients. The Ministry of Health concluded a framework contract for the procurement of Tocilizumabum.
(26)
‘Government Ordinance 19/2021’ (54) and ‘Law 55/2020’ (55), as referred to in the request, provided for incentives, in the form of meal vouchers in the amount of RON 100, to fully vaccinated persons.
(27)
‘Government Emergency Ordinance 131/2020’ (56), Article 5, as referred to in the request, provided for a temporary increase of 30 % in the basic salary for the staff of the prefect’s institutions involved in preventing and fighting the effects of COVID-19 for the period from August 2020 to February 2021.
(28)
‘Government Emergency Ordinance 186/2020’ (57), as referred to in the request, covered the expenditures of 200 additional resident doctors needed because of the pandemic.
(29)
‘Government Emergency Ordinance 11/2020’ (58), as referred to in the request, provided for the purchase of medical products and personal protective equipment for the fight against the pandemic (e.g., protective footwear, gloves, masks, ventilators and stretchers) in order to establish and consolidate emergency medical stocks.
(30)
‘Law 319/2006’ (59), ‘Law 55/2020’ (60) and ‘Minister of Labor and Minister of Health Joint Order 3577/831/2020’ (61), as referred to in the request, regulated the purchase of sanitary protection materials for the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
(31)
‘Government Emergency Ordinance 197/2020’ (62), as referred to in the request, provided for payments to volunteer medicine students who worked for hospitals or healthcare institutions to provide emergency support.
(32)
‘Minister of Health Order 487/2020’ (63), as referred to in the request, provided for the purchase of two pharmaceutical products (Molnupiravir and Anakinra) which are used for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
(33)
‘Law 95/2006’ (64), Article 51, ‘Government Decision 155/2017’ (65) and ‘Minister of Health Order 377/2017’ (66) as referred to in the request, regulated the funding of testing for COVID-19 at the level of specialised units. RT-PCR laboratory testing services financed under the National Program for Surveillance and Control of Priority Communicable Diseases are performed on categories of individuals established by the new COVID-19 Acute Respiratory Syndrome Surveillance Methodology or by order of the Minister of Health.
(34)
‘Minister of Health Order 58/4/2022’ (67), as referred to in the request, regulated the funding of COVID-19 testing by family doctors. The testing work carried out by family doctors is financed by transfers from the State budget, through the Ministry of Health’s budget to the budget of the Single National Health Insurance Fund.
(35)
Romania fulfils the conditions for requesting financial assistance set out in Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2020/672. Romania has provided the Commission with appropriate evidence that the actual and planned public expenditure has increased by EUR 3 321 482 911 as of 1 February 2020 as a result of the national measures taken to address the socioeconomic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. This constitutes a sudden and severe increase because it is related to both new measures and the extension of existing measures directly related to short-time work schemes and similar measures that cover a significant proportion of undertakings and of the labour force in Romania. Romania intends to finance EUR 353 704 624 of the increased amount of expenditure through Union funds.
(36)
The Commission has consulted Romania and verified the sudden and severe increase in the actual and planned public expenditure directly related to short-time work schemes and similar measures, as well as the recourse to relevant health-related measures related to the COVID-19 outbreak, as referred to in the request, in accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2020/672.
(37)
The expenditure on health-related measures by Romania, including the additional or extended health-related measures referred to in recitals 14 to 34, amounts to EUR 2 141 579 582. Given the need to ensure the ancillary nature of this category of measures, the amount of the financial assistance in support of health-related measures needs to be reduced as it should represent less than half of the total financial assistance planned to be spent on all eligible measures.
(38)
Financial assistance already granted by means of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355 should therefore also cover the new measures referred to in recitals 11, 12 and 16 to 34.
(39)
The financial assistance granted by means of Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1355 should be reduced from EUR 4 099 244 587 to EUR 3 000 000 000. Romania remains committed to fully absorbing the financial assistance granted and should identify further eligible measures in case the existing measures prove insufficient.
(40)
Romania and the Commission should take this Decision into account in the loan agreement referred to in Article 8(2) of Regulation (EU) 2020/672.
(41)
This Decision should be without prejudice to the outcome of any procedures relating to distortions of the operation of the internal market that may be undertaken, in particular pursuant to Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty. It does not override the requirement for Member States to notify instances of potential State aid to the Commission under Article 108 of the Treaty.
(42)
Romania should inform the Commission on a regular basis of the implementation of the planned public expenditure, in order to enable the Commission to assess the extent to which Romania has implemented that expenditure,
