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Romania must spend EUR 8.6 bn in European funds by end-2013

Leonard Orban, who has been named for Minister of European Affairs, told a hearing in Parliament on Monday that Romania will have to spend 8.6 billion euros in European Union funds by the end of 2013.

'The European affairs ministry will have two basic tasks: to manage the European affairs issues together with other central institutions, on the one hand and to coordinate the EU funds management on the other. I believe that the setting up of this ministry is extremely important', Orban told the deputies and senators in the commissions for administration and European affairs.

The former European commissioner for multilingualism stressed that if Romania fails to spend the money assigned by the EU by end-2012, such amounts will be lost.

'We'll have to spend at least 1.9 billion euros by the end of 2012, as a real absorption rate. At the end of 2013 we'll have to spend a total 8.6 billion euros. Romania until today has spent 716 million euros, therefore in 2013 we'll have to spend 6.7 billion euros', Orban said, adding that Romania, up until now, has spent 3.7 percent, in real absorption rate, of the structural funds.

He underscored he is a minister with no political affiliation, who backs the general interest, the national interest as he has always done during his career in European affairs.

Orban said that the main problems for which the European money could not be used were the problems in the public acquisition system.

'The public acquisition authorities will have to enter the monitoring system, the system for the management of these funds and will have to be certified by the Romanian Auditing Authority. Such process will take a certain time and until it is completed and until all the projects put forward to the European Commission are checked we will not be able to resume the payments - a process I estimate to take till this November at least', the minister-designate said.

Sursa: http://www.actmedia.eu

Tags: european affairs funds romania spend

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