The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Florin Barbu, announced that an amount of €4,075,862,964 has already been transferred into Romania’s accounts by the European Commission, with an additional €1,006,710,849 expected to be received by the end of January 2026. According to the public communication, the total exceeds €5 billion and reflects reimbursements of payments made to farmers from European funds.

In the same context, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) reported that APIA authorized for payment, between 2 December 2025 and 14 January 2026, the amount of €527.8 million (regular payments for the 2025 application year) for 777,670 farmers; of this amount, over €500 million was effectively transferred to beneficiaries, covering 666,058 farmers. The data indicate an acceleration of financial flows in the first part of the year, in parallel with reimbursement operations at the level of the European Commission.

In the first days of January 2026, the ministry also communicated a reimbursement of nearly €1 billion from the European Commission, related to the settlement of advance payments made to farmers between 16 October and 30 November 2025. These reimbursements are part of the financing mechanism under the Common Agricultural Policy, whereby payments to farmers are made at national level, with eligible amounts subsequently recovered from the EU budget.

From an administrative perspective, execution depends on the schedule of authorizations and controls, compliance with conditionality requirements, and the maintenance of a high level of conformity, so that reimbursements are not affected by financial corrections. For the sector, the predictability of these flows has a direct impact on farms’ working capital, on the purchase of inputs, and on investments financed through programs managed by AFIR.

For 2026, the main objective remains maintaining the pace of payments and absorption, including in the investment component, so that European resources support farm modernization and the strengthening of the agri-food chain. In the coming period, periodic reports from MADR/APIA regarding effective payments to beneficiaries and amounts reimbursed by the European Commission will be particularly relevant.

(Photo: Freepik)