Streams of money and investments will enter Romania in coming years, and in just a few weeks and months, employees in the administration and the private sector will enter a contracting process for the largest funding flows in the country’s recent history, beyond the 2020-2021 period, when the debut of the NPRR led to massive over-contracting – EUR 47 billion compared to the initial allocation of 27 billion.
Now, the total amount of commitments already undertaken or in the process of being completed exceeds EUR 25 billion from publicly identifiable sources alone – military equipment, energy, infrastructure, critical mineral resources.
In these very months, each contract involves signatures, assigning decisions, selecting suppliers and subcontractors, relationships between public and private structures, negotiations about who produces what and where, and so on, while the extremely tight schedule gives new meaning to the political crisis.
STREAM I – SAFE: EUR 16.68 billion for the military endowment, contracts to be signed by May 31
SAFE is the largest military procurement program in Romania’s history – and the second largest national allocation in the European SAFE program, after Poland. It received the green light on Tuesday, April 28, in the specialized committees of Parliament. In addition to the obvious stakes (equipping the Army and the over EUR 4 billion going towards completing the Moldovan Motorway), another stake is the fact that, unlike past acquisitions, the SAFE program imposes a mandatory minimum limit for the localization of production in Romania. This means that 50% of the funds will be invested in the national defense industry. “Localization today means building factories in Romania,” explained the Minister of Defense.
The projects approved under SAFE target land, naval and air capabilities, with very short contract signing deadlines: May 31, 2026.
- Infantry fighting vehicle (tracked): 298 units – EUR 3.33 billion (the most expensive project);
- Piranha 5 armored carrier: 359 units – EUR 2.17 billion;
- Multifunctional auto transport platforms: 1,115 units – EUR 344.40 million;
- SKYNEX artillery system (C-UAS and CRAM): 7 systems – EUR 476 million;
- Loitering munitions strike systems: 70 units – EUR 147 million;
- Multi-mission helicopters: 12 aircraft – EUR 852 million;
- SBAMD (L) surface-to-air missile system: 3 units – EUR 547.83 million;
- Skyranger35 system (VSR – CUAS): 2 systems – EUR 470 million;
- Gap Filler radars: 12 systems – EUR 258 mil.;
- Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV): 2 ships – EUR 836 million;
- Naval Strike Missile Launch System: 7 units – EUR 207 million;
- Diver intervention: 2 ships – EUR 84 million.
The main industrial beneficiaries publicly identified by the Minister of Defense are: the Cugir Arms Factory (new assault weapon), the Sadu Military Plant (ammunition), the Mangalia 2 Mai Shipyard (provided that it is salvaged – for the 2 OPV ships).
It is worth noting that the Parliament also imposed a control mechanism: three months after the signing of the contracts, the Ministry of National Defense and the Prime Minister’s Chancellery must present detailed reports on the status of localization and the penalties applied to suppliers who do not comply with the production clauses in Romania.
Note: It is worth mentioning the case of former Defense Minister Ionuț Moșteanu, who was supposed to receive EUR 1 million in bribes from a group of businessmen who wanted to do business with ammunition from the former Soviet space. Octavian Berceanu, former head of the Environmental Guard, a person close to the USR, was chosen by the group as an “intermediary”, but he filed a complaint and recorded the “negotiations” with the business group that used Ovidiu Isăilă, former PDL/PSD/UNPR/PRU parliamentarian, as a liaison. Berceanu said that he was offered EUR 10 million.
STREAM II – USA: EUR 500 million for Transgaz and the Vertical Gas Corridor, EUR 1 billion for Reactor 1 at Cernavoda
In mid-April, an extended government delegation – Minister of Finance Alexandru Nazare, Minister of Energy Bogdan Ivan, Minister of Health, Minister of European Funds – traveled to Washington for the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, but also for direct meetings with structures of the US administration: the Department of Energy (US Secretary Chris Wright), the Department of Commerce (three undersecretaries – the first meeting of this level), DFC (Development Finance Corporation) and US Exim Bank.
Following the trip, Romania agreed on financing amounting to EUR 2 billion, the visit having the objective of accelerating strategic energy projects and attracting financing.
One of the results was the provision of USD 500 million in financing from the World Bank for the modernization of Transgaz’s natural gas transport network, a vital element of the Vertical Gas Corridor, which brings, through Bulgaria and Romania, American LNG unloaded in Greece to central and eastern Europe (including for Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova). The agreement involves a three-party contract between the World Bank, the Ministry of Finance and Transgaz. The second result was an allocation of EUR 1 billion for the technological revamp of Reactor 1 at Cernavoda, with World Bank financing. Separately, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) also confirmed its participation with approximately EUR 400 million in the revamp of Reactor 1 at Cernavoda.
In addition to the financing of Transgaz and Cernavoda, the Romanian delegation’s visit to Washington brought on several other financial commitments. The World Bank confirmed its readiness to grant a Development Policy Loan (DPL) of USD 650 million, linked to fiscal consolidation objectives, as announced by the Minister of Finance. A second pillar of the same DPL instrument aims at access to financing for SMEs, the mobilization of non-banking financing and the decarbonization of the energy sector.
According to the Finance Ministry, another EUR 90 million will be available through World Bank Group financial instruments to manage the effects of current energy challenges, including through the CERP (Crisis Emergency Response Program) instrument, which can be activated in energy crisis situations.
The Vertical Gas Corridor
A third line with a major strategic impact in the longer run is the Vertical Corridor – the infrastructure that can already bring American liquefied natural gas from terminals in Greece to Central and Eastern Europe, crossing Bulgaria and Romania.
There is American interest in increasing transport capacity here, and investments in transport networks and interconnections along this corridor are a topic of discussion, including at the Three Seas Summit that took place on April 28 and 29 in Dubrovnik, Croatia, with the participation of the US Secretary of Energy.
Romanian President Nicușor Dan explained on Wednesday, April 29, at the Three Seas Initiative Summit, the interest of Romania and the US in this project.
„In terms of the gas corridor, this is a political and economic issue. It is in our interest, everyone’s, to disconnect from gas supplies from Russia, it is the American interest to enter the European market with LNG. In order for the Americans to enter the European market with LNG, some consistent investments are needed in the ports of Greece, in the south of this corridor, and the question is whether there are enough buyers in the region, I am talking about all the countries in the region – Moldova, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria -, whether the need for purchase is large enough to justify this investment. (…) We want to have an American presence in Romania, we want this economic configuration to be favorable to Romania. This could mean gas transit through the Transgaz networks and profit from transit fees, it can mean many things. (…) In a week, in Yerevan, there will be held the European Political Community Summit, and on the sidelines of this summit Romania initiated a discussion with all these countries about the exact figures of this potential business. If all of us, together, have a large enough gas need to justify an American investment”, explained President Nicușor Dan.
STREAM III – Critical minerals: graphite, magnesium and copper, long-term strategic investments
Meanwhile, Romania holds the largest graphite deposits in Europe, at Baia de Fier, Gorj County, a deposit closed for over three decades and now rediscovered as a strategic resource in the context of the energy transition and much greater investments in the defense industry.
The European Commission declared three Romanian critical minerals projects as European strategic projects – graphite (Salrom), magnesium (Verde Magnesium, Bihor) and copper (Samax Romania/Euro Sun Mining, Hunedoara) – placing them on a shortlist of 47 priority projects at EU level, with facilitated access to financing and accelerated procedures.
Graphite
Salrom has submitted three major projects to the European Commission, totaling EUR 628 million: graphite extraction (EUR 198 million – strategic project approved in March 2025), advanced graphite processing (EUR 250 million – under evaluation by the European Commission) and a project for the recycling of mining dumps (EUR 180 million – submitted in January 2026).
Added to these is another recent project, GRAPH-SECURE, submitted on April 22, 2026, for which Salrom is requesting a grant of EUR 21.4 million from the EC Innovation Fund, for a project that includes the first European industrial installation with HPSA technology for the processing of natural graphite from Baia de Fier. The project also involves the Geological Institute of Romania, Urban Scope and Disa Technologies from the USA.
The unit will have a projected processing capacity of approximately 120,000 tons of ore per year, including the production of a high-purity concentrate for the European Li-ion battery industry and other strategic uses. At a price of pure graphite of approximately $20,000/ton, a production of 15,000 tons/year would generate revenues of approximately USD 300 million annually.
“GRAPH-SECURE is the moment when strategy becomes infrastructure. We have the license, we have the certified deposit, we have the technological partners and we have a European framework that rewards real decarbonization. Through this project, Romania assumes an active role – not just as a resource provider, but as a co-architect of European security of critical raw materials. The EUR 21.42 million investment requested from the Innovation Fund will generate a unique industrial facility in Europe, highly qualified jobs in Gorj and a replicable model for the entire continent”, stated Constantin-Dan Dobrea, general director of Salrom, quoted in a press release issued on April 22.
At the right purity, graphite is essential for energy storage, namely electric car batteries, but is also used as a lubricant in the defense industry. Graphite can also be used to make graphene – a better electrical conductor than copper, stronger than steel and with unique thermal and optical properties, according to the European Commission.
Magnesium
Meanwhile, the company Verde Magnesium is investing EUR 115 million for the only magnesium extraction project declared strategic in the EU, in the Budureasa perimeter, in Bihor county. American investment company Amerocap is behind Verde Magnesium. The exploitation of the magnesium mine and quarry was closed in the 1990s-2000s and, by reopening the exploitation, Romania would be the only country in the EU that would exploit this resource. It should be noted that, in alloy with aluminum, metallic magnesium is used in the automotive, electronics and construction industries but also in the steelmaking process.
The inclusion of the project on the list of strategic ones in the EU also comes in the context of China processing over 90% of the world’s magnesium quantities, and 97% of the EU’s needs are met from there.
According to the latest estimates, the production of metallic magnesium from Budureasa is expected to begin by the end of 2028. The quantity extracted is expected to be 30,000 tons/year in 2030, reaching 90,000 tons annually in 2036, according to a company statement.
Copper
At the same time, Canadian company Euro Sun Mining, through its subsidiary Samax Romania, aims to extract copper and gold at Rovina, Hunedoara – an investment estimated at EUR 300 million, which would produce 20,000 tons of copper concentrate annually. This project is joined in the copper extraction area by the state-owned company Cuprumin Abrud, which currently exploits the Roșia-Poieni quarry, which also sells copper after primary processing, in the form of concentrate and not as a finished product, in the absence of a foundry.
The copper produced at Rovina will meet the needs of the Romanian manufacturing industry, but will also contribute 2.3% to European production.
The deadline undertaken by companies for the projects to become operational is 2028 – that is, the works are scheduled to start, contracts with subcontractors are to be signed, access roads are to be built and exploitations are to be opened in two years. The bulk of the money is to enter the system in 2026–2027, through design, construction and equipment contracts that are to be awarded in the coming months.
STREAM IV: Anghel Saligny – the money tap for city halls, especially in the 2024 election year, when tens of billions were distributed from the reserve fund at the disposal of Prime Minister Ciolacu
Added to this picture is the „Anghel Saligny” local investment program, launched in 2021 by the Cîțu Government as the successor to the PNDL, which also led to the breakup of the PNL-USR-UDMR Coalition and culminated with PSD returning to power. With a total budget of tens of billions of RON (projects worth over EUR 10 billion in total, of which only an extremely small percentage were completed), Saligny was split across three major categories: county and local roads, water and sewage networks, and gas distribution systems. By June 30, 2025, RON 45.8 billion had been contracted of the 4,945 approved projects, but only RON 19.5 billion had actually been paid. In addition, by mid-2025, only 4% of the projects with signed contracts had been completed and received.
Saligny was the subject of months of conflict within the Coalition and in the public sphere since Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan announced that the money had run out and that projects that had not been started or were in their early stages would no longer receive funding. Last year, the Government announced the introduction of strict prioritization criteria – only road projects that were over 80% complete and water and sewage projects that were over 40% complete would continue. This meant, in concrete figures, that only about 35% of the projects – approximately 1,650 objectives – were still receiving money.
In a report published in August 2025 based on data from the Ministry of Development, Expert Forum documented the structural problems of the program: incomplete and contradictory data on the status of projects, large differences in costs per meter of network between similar projects, overestimated costs in numerous cases, the risk that funds are „siphoned” through contracts with “preferred” companies, which win the tenders and execute poor-quality works. In any case, the deadline for concluding financing contracts through Saligny was set for December 31, 2026, through an emergency ordinance adopted in the fall of 2025. This means that in 2026 the fate of thousands of projects and the billions that remain to be allocated and contracted will be decided.
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