Radio România Internațional

Tag: European funds

  • The absorption of European funds in Romania

    The absorption of European funds in Romania

    After joining the European Union in 2007,
    Romania started receiving European funds for development. In theory, the money
    should be used to bridge the economic gap between Romania and the more
    developed western countries. 19 billion euros were available to Romania between
    2007 and 2014, of which it has only absorbed only 14 billion. Moreover, the
    money was not used for investment in critical projects such as infrastructure,
    education and healthcare, as every new government has promised.




    The country’s sluggish legislation and the
    frauds in the management of these European projects have delayed the absorption
    of European funds, the minister for European funds Aura Raducu recently said. During a debate in
    Parliament, she announced that one of the payments included in the Sectoral
    Operational Programme Human Resources Development was suspended due to
    irregularities identified between 2012 and 2014. The Romanian minister said the
    absorption rate was below 60% when she took office in November 2015 as a member
    of the new technocratic government headed by Dacian Ciolos. The absorption rate
    is expected to rise in the future by also including some of the projects funded
    by the state. Aura Raducu explains:




    This is a unique opportunity to raise the
    absorption rate to 100%. There are some problems, though, namely that most
    projects funded by the state unfortunately do not comply with the legal
    requirements under national law, in particular the regulations regarding public
    purchases, environmental certificates and building certificates.




    In response, the former minister for European
    funds, the Social Democrat senator Eugen Teodorovici, said the ministry for
    European funds should concern itself instead with urgent payments and with the
    launch of new projects. He called on Aura Raducu
    to consider her resignation if she was unable to ensure the management of
    European funds. Eugen Teodorovici:




    When you took office, the absorption rate of
    European funds stood at 59%. You are saying now that the absorption rate has
    reached 75% and that you will receive more than 700 million euros from the
    European Commission. Translating this sum into percentages you will see that
    you will not reach the absorption rate you mentioned.




    If we look at the absorption rate of European
    funds in Romania’s neighbouring countries, things are a little better there. At
    the end of 2015, Hungary had spent 87% and Bulgaria 77% of the money allotted
    to them. After falling behind in its absorption rates for seven years in a row,
    Romania is now faced with a bigger challenge: by 2020 it has to come up with
    viable projects to attract around 35 billion euros.

  • Government measures

    Government measures

    Romania wants to increase its European fund absorption rate to 70% by the end of the year, according to the Minister for European Funds, Aura Răducu. The Romanian official said that any projects with EU funding still ongoing by December 31 might be co-funded, also by involving local authorities. Aura Răducu said the Government was making efforts to refund the costs for 5,500 ongoing projects.



    Aura Răducu: “We are trying to come up with a solution so that any projects finalized by December 31 should start getting European funding, especially those projects managed by local authorities. Local authorities must cover what funding the remaining projects need in order to be finalized”.



    Aura Răducu however warned that these costs would be refunded only if the projects in question are half-complete and have observed all public procurement rules and procedures. The Romanian official has explained there are nearly 80 projects that risk not being finalized by December 31.



    Aura Răducu: “In order to save certain projects we have the so-called phased projects, 77 projects that cannot be finalized, especially those referring to large water or transport infrastructure programmes. We will try to finance these projects in two phases, part of them in the current financial framework and the other part in the next framework”.



    In turn, Finance Minister Anca Dragu has warned that any failure to observe deadlines for public procurement might lead to withholding payments for all projects with EU funding. That’s why the Government in Bucharest has made reforming the public procurement system a top priority. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister Dacian Cioloş has called on Transport Minister Dan Costescu to draw up an analysis on the functioning of the Road and Highway Administration and other companies operating within the ministry. As regards investments in infrastructure, Cioloş said all construction works provided in the Transport Master Plan and agreed upon with the European Commission would continue.



    Dacian Cioloş: “The efforts to formalize and adopt the Master Plan have not been in vain. We are also working on a list of very exact goals that we want to pursue over the coming year, such as starting or continuing works for the Pitesti-Sibiu highway. Also, there are express roads and highway segments linking Comarnic to Busteni and Transylvania to Moldavia where we can make headway with feasibility studies and technical projects. As for Bucharest, we can advance with construction works for the Bucharest ring and the segment linking the city to the Ploiesti motorway”.



    The Prime Minister promised these projects would be carefully monitored, ranking high on the Government’s agenda.


  • New regulations for European fund absorption

    New regulations for European fund absorption

    The European Commission on Monday passed new regulations meant to help EU countries with a low fund absorption rate such as Romania. The Commissioner for Regional Policy, Romanian Corina Cretu, pointed out that the new regulations were actually a revised version of the research for the regional policy programs for the 2007-2013 period. She explained that the new regulations would help EU countries by means of a think tank that she initiated right after she had become Commissioner for Regional Policy.



    That group focuses on 8 EU countries with which the EU Commissioner cooperated closely in this regard, namely Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary. The group will help the aforementioned countries to make better use of the community funds for the 2007- 2013 period, which are still available to them.


    According to figures made public on the site of the Romanian Ministry for European Funds, the current absorption rate stands at 53.1%. The new regulations provide for those funds to be used as part of certain projects by the end of 2015. Corina Cretu added that the new documents explained in detail the steps to be followed by the member states and the Commission for the finalization of the cohesion policy programs for the 2007- 2013 period.



    Then, by March 2017, those countries will have to submit a final report which should include the name and number of projects implemented, a review of expenses and a declaration of completion attesting the legality and compliance of expenses. Another new element is the introduction of the 10% flexibility component, which allows for expenses higher by 10% to be made under a program focusing on a certain priority, if they are compensated by an equivalent reduction of 10% for another priority within the same program, Commissioner Cretu added.



    She also said that simplified procedures were passed allowing for the spacing out of some of the projects from the 2007-2013 period in the 2014-2020 period. Corina Cretu also added that progress was already reported in implementing programs for the 2007-2013 period.