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From 2% to over 35%: how Romania made up for its delay on European funds, and at what price

At the end of 2024 the Fiscal Council raised the alarm about the risk of losing billions of euros. Two years later, the absorption pace has tripled, but the NRRP allocation has in the meantime been renegotiated downwards.

The ROptimizaRE editorial team · 6 min read · updated 15 October 2026

In short

  • On 31 December 2024 the absorption rate of the 2021–2027 cohesion funds (excluding advances) was only 2%, and the Fiscal Council flagged the risk of losing €5.2 billion through decommitment[1]
  • On 14 August 2026 the Government reported an absorption of 35.6% of the EU allocation for cohesion funds (€11.02 out of €30.986 billion), triple the June 2025 level (10.58%) and above the EU average of 27.2%[2]
  • The NRRP allocation was renegotiated with the European Commission in August 2026, and now stands at €20.11 billion (€13.57 billion in grants + €6.54 billion in loans); the source does not give the earlier amount, so we do not compare it[3]
  • MIPE preliminarily estimates absorption of over 90% of NRRP grants and over 95% of loans, but the final result will be known only after the last payment request to the Commission[3]

The starting point: an official alarm signal

Romania has tens of billions of euros of European funds available for 2021–2027, through several channels: Cohesion Policy (the former Structural Funds, almost €31 billion of the EU allocation), the Common Agricultural Policy and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (NRRP). On 31 December 2024 the Fiscal Council published an official note documenting a worryingly low absorption rate for cohesion funds, excluding advances[1].

Absorption rate of cohesion funds, 31 December 2024

2%

Year 2024 · source[1]

Excluding advances; flagged risk of losing €5.2 billion through decommitment.

Absorption rate of cohesion funds, 14 August 2026

35.6%

Year 2026 · source[2]

€11.02 billion out of a €30.986 billion EU allocation, above the EU average of 27.2%.

A real acceleration, documented in three stages

Later official data show a sustained acceleration, not just a one-off rebound. According to MIPE, the NRRP financial execution rose from €6.8 billion (30 June 2025) to €9.7 billion (end of 2025), almost €3 billion absorbed in just six months, and the monthly reimbursement pace for cohesion funds rose from an average of €86.6 million/month (January 2021 – June 2025) to €456.2 million/month (June–December 2025), almost seven times faster[4].

The trajectory continued: from €3.28 billion (10.58% of the allocation) in June 2025, absorption of cohesion funds reached €11.02 billion (35.6%) on 14 August 2026, a sum tripled in fourteen months. The Government estimates that by the end of 2026 the rate will exceed 40%[2].

Absorption rate of 2021–2027 cohesion funds, August 2026[2]

2026

Romania: rank 1 of 1 (1 = the highest value)

View the data as a table
Absorption rate of 2021–2027 cohesion funds, August 2026, 2026
CountryValue
Romania35.6%
EU average27.2%

NRRP: allocation renegotiated downwards, but high preliminary absorption

In August 2026 the European Commission and Romania renegotiated the total NRRP allocation, which now stands at €20.11 billion: €13.57 billion in grants and €6.54 billion in loans. The Ministry's statement does not say what the allocation was before, so we cannot put a figure on the change[3].

Measured against this renegotiated allocation, MIPE estimates, based on preliminary data sent by the reform and investment coordinators, absorption of over 90% of grants and over 95% of loans. The figures remain preliminary, however: the final result will be known only after the sixth and last payment request is sent to the European Commission, an administrative step scheduled for autumn 2026[3].

Sources

Primary official sources; where we use the press (only when the official document is not public) we mark it. The links lead to the original document or to the report cited (titles are translated; the documents themselves are in Romanian unless stated).

  1. [1]

    Fiscal Council of Romania — Note on the absorption of European funds (approved by the plenary of the Fiscal Council on 21 February 2025; figures based on Ministry of Finance data, at 31.12.2024)

    Published 21 February 2025 · Accessed 15 October 2026 · the original document(opens in a new tab)

  2. [2]

    Government of Romania — Press information on the normative acts adopted at the meeting of the Government of Romania on 14 August 2026 (in Romanian) (note on the implementation and absorption status of the 2021-2027 programmes funded by the Cohesion Policy)

    Published 14 August 2026 · Accessed 15 October 2026 · the original document(opens in a new tab)

  3. [3]

    Ministry of European Investments and Projects (MIPE) — Preliminary MIPE estimate on NRRP absorption (grants and loans) (in Romanian) (MIPE statement, independently confirmed by three press reports (mediafax.ro, sfin.ro, atlasnews.ro) with identical percentages; preliminary figure: MIPE states that the final result will be known only after the 6th (and last) payment request is submitted to the European Commission)

    Published 14 September 2026 · Accessed 15 October 2026 · the original document(opens in a new tab)

  4. [4]

    Ministry of European Investments and Projects (MIPE) — Unprecedented acceleration of European funds absorption in the last six months (in Romanian) (official MIPE statement; NRRP financial execution and reimbursements from the 2021-2027 Cohesion Policy, at the end of 2025)

    Published 5 January 2026 · Accessed 15 October 2026 · the original document(opens in a new tab)

This is a translation of the Romanian article, which prevails. Source titles are translated for convenience; the documents themselves are in Romanian unless stated.