UE funds programs,"in danger"

European Affairs Minister, Leonard Orban, has announced that it is about programs to which are subjected currently to preventive financial corrections, namely the Sectoral Operational Programme(POS) Environment , the POS Transportation , the Regional Operational Programme(POR), , the POS Increase of Economic Competitiveness(CCE) and the Sectoral Operational Programme Development of Human Resources (POSDRU).

Leonard Orban has specified that the commitments Romania has made are in advanced stage of completion and hopes that the risk of suspension will be avoided.

"There are many conditions, from the elements related to public acquisitions until things that are related to non-respecting of some recommendations made by the audit missions of Romanian Audit Authority as well as of European Committee, from the segregation of certain positions inside the Management Authority(AM) with regard to verifying the correctness of public acquisition , verifications of potential conflicts of interests and incompatibilities and technical matters related to how the programme is going on , operates and the financial management is secured at structure level", explained Leonard Orban.

Expensive irregularities

The financial corrections are considered to be among the most serious sanctions which can be applied to a programme and can anticipate the suspension of that programme, if certain conditions are not completed.

According to the regulation regarding the cohesion politics control on the actual period of European budgetary period, if the Commission has evidences regarding the significant deficiencies in certain control system functionality and administration of a member state or irregularities regarding the payment requests and the authorities from the respective country could not prevent, detect or correct, then the European Commission (EC) can interrupt or officially suspend payments from the respective program or can open a financial correction procedure.

According to the regulation regarding the cohesion politics control, if the Member State does not manage to correct the irregularities or remediate the system’s deficiencies, EC can apply a financial correction, as in the case of 5 Romanian operational programs.

Such decisions may involve a reduction of European funding program, which has as automat effect the fact the respective state cannot redirect the cancelled funds to a program for other projects.

According to regulations, EC can apply financial corrections for system errors or irregularities whose financial impact is difficult to be measured, for instance within the public acquisitions field.

On February 21, EC, through the General Directorate for Employment and Social Affairs within the European Commission, has taken the decision to temporary interrupt the payments on POSDRU, a program through Romania beneficiates of a financing of 3,47 billion Euros from EU.

The interrupting was due to some deficiencies within the management and control system.

Afterwards, the payments were resumed with a series of conditions.

The funds absorptions increasing

Romania has submitted , until now, to the EC, repayment applications for about 8,36 percent of the structural and cohesion funds allocated to our country, from the European budget for 2007-2013.

The European Affairs Minister has explained that this increase is the effect of the simplification measures taken lately, inclusively due to the compulsory period of 45 working days when the fund requests have to be processed.

"We are still in need of short-term solutions, so that we shall be able to increase absorption rate ."

"We are now a little above over 8 percent in the cohesion policy field and we hope to achieve at least the 20 percent aim by the end of this year", said the minister Leonard Orban.

He sustained that these figures show that things made good progress in the months of March and April.

Simplification by government decision

The European Affairs Minister is to propose the Government, in a few weeks, a project that includes simplified procedures meant to process the repayment applications for European funds.

The aim is, among others, the removal of any back payments in the field.

In addition, because in time Romania has received repeated reproaches in the public acquisitions matter, in which are involved European funds, the European Affairs Minister has in an advanced stage of drawing up tender standardized documents especially in the environment and transport fields, and they are to be extended to energy .

Moreover , the minister Leonard Orban has specified that it would be good that such documents to be applied to all public acquisitions, inclusively regarding those exclusively with public money, not only those regarding only European money.

Usually, companies which would want to use the European funds in Romania complain that, despite the progress in recent years, there are still systemic problems that make the access difficult to European money.

For instance, recently, French companies from Romania have reported the subjectivity of file evaluation process, the homogeneity lack of evaluation criteria, the very large period of process, which leads to a non-synchronization of the submitted files with the ongoing projects and very demanding administrative formalities.

Leonard Orban explained that while trying to simplify procedures, now, when EC has imposed conditions and verifications very detailed, on many programs, it is not possible a simplification at the wanted level, simply because the projects have to pass from the beginning and until the end through verifications and to respect certain necessary criteria, so that, it exists the risk of new penalties from Brussels.

Fiscal consolidation

However, Romania has advanced regarding the applying of fiscal strengthen measures and the way in which public expenditure are done.

Instead, Romania has recorded delays regarding the labour market.

"Romania has committed to apply fiscal strengthen measures for the agreed objectives, in concordance with the commitments undertaken to international institutions. "

"Recently we have discussed at the government about the achievement stage of fiscal strengthen measures and we can observe there is progress in fiscal consolidation and the way in which the public expenditure is carried out."

"There are delays regarding the labor market", recently declared the minister.

At the European level, measures to strengthen fiscal policy to be taken within the following period will focus on competitiveness and employment, and obviously Romania must keep up with what happens in the rest of EU.

Until now, efforts made at European level took the shape of a complex package, which, besides the Euro Plus pact, it includes also the fiscal pact, the proposal of the second package to strengthen economic governance.

At the measures already taken will be added others, particularly in the labour market and competitiveness, and which will be included, most probably, within some enhanced mechanisms from EU.

The experts’ problem

European Affairs Minister, Leonard Orban said on Thursday that his institution has renounced at the draft which provided hiring of contractual staff with gross salaries until 10,000 lei, at the management authorities of the structural programs, due to some problems both related to the budget law and framing in certain targets provided in the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (FMI) and EC.

The minister has stated that he will try to reallocate the existent positions in the state to this field.

"We will go on an usual formula, we will increase the number of public servants employed in the structures that manage the community funds", has declared the minister.

Leonard Orban announced that presently there is an analysis to identify vacancies or the employees of governmental structures that can be relocated in the absorption of structural funds and cohesion, respecting the employment rule of a person at 7 free positions, without any derogation.

The minister has specified that gain of almost 75 percent for the staff from the European funds absorption field will be paid from the Sectorial Operational Programme of Technical Assistance, which is the same with the Community funds.

As regards the discussed uniformity of salaries from a management authority to another, the minister has apprised that it is a long-term process, which begins when salaries will reach the level from 2010 and probably after that pass another 3-4 years until the salaries will reach the same level, because "we do not have other option", has also stated Leonard Orban.

Regarding correlation of clerks’salaries with European funds absorption performance, Leonard Orban has specified that a government decision exists in this regard.

Translated by Alexandra-Diana Mircea
MTTLC, Bucharest University