BUCHAREST (Reuters) -Romania will set up an infrastructure fund to address flood emergencies over at least five years, a requirement to unblock European Union recovery funds, Environment Minister Diana Buzoianu said.
The country has seen some of its worst floods in at least two decades in 2024 and this year, causing 10 deaths, burst river banks, collapsed bridges and damage to thousands of homes.
Under a reform plan agreed with the European Commission in exchange for recovery funds, Romania has until the first quarter of 2026 to set up a mechanism to fund infrastructure works against floods.
Buzoianu said the fund will be based off a study conducted by the World Bank, which shows Romania needs between 10 billion and 40 billion euros ($11.66 billion-$46.65 billion) over at least five years to rehabilitate dams, build bridges, reinforce defences and other works.
But the months-old coalition government, which is struggling to lower the largest budget deficit in the EU, could not accommodate the full cost at present.
“At the moment we cannot cover absolutely all the ideal necessary works,” Buzoianu told Reuters in an interview late last week. “But what I want is for this fund to cover works in areas where we already know we have high risk of flooding without which communities and lives are endangered.”
While the value of the fund will be decided at government level, Buzoianu said the funds will come from water management fees and taxes and will be allocated for priority works put forward in the study.
The environment ministry has lost out on 2 billion euros ($2.33 billion) worth of EU recovery funds due to delays which made it impossible for projects due to be financed by the EU funds to be completed before an August 2026 deadline.
Buzoianu, who took over the ministry in late June, is working to reform forestry and water management agencies and meet EU targets to access remaining funds. Some 40% of the lost funding will be covered from the state budget.
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(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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