Romania Worried EU Payments Could Be Suspended

The European Commission could block payments to Romania from the Human Resources funding line worth 100 million euros this year amid concerns about irregularities, European Affairs Minister Leonard Orban said on Monday.

“The European Commission is likely to decide to suspend payments in the coming days,” Orban said. “An audit by the Commission is to be made public, showing irregularities in the evaluation and eligibility of programmes.”

Romania could lose around one billion euros next year if payments are blocked.

Officials in Bucharest are concerned and have promised last-minute measures. "We will try anything possible to improve the situation before the end of the year," Prime Minister Victor Ponta said in a public statement.

This is not the first time that Romania has faced problems in using EU funds. The Human Resources programme, POSDRU, was suspended on February 20, after the Romanian auditing authority found irregularities in programme management worth a total of 3.5 billion euros. Payments resumed in April pending further checks.

Last June the European Commission blocked payments under the Regional Operational Programme after uncovering irregularities in public acquisitions. The line was re-opened in December.

European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Ciolos recently warned that Romania might miss out on more than 100 million euros allocated to projects to enable internet access in rural areas for the 2007-2013 period.

Romania has absorbed around ten per cent of the EU structural and cohesion funds to which it was entitled after joining the European Union in 2007.

Bucharest has said this figure must rise to at least 20 per cent in coming years. Last September, the government set up a new ministry to tackle the country's low rate of absorption of EU funds but tangible results have yet to be seen.