European Commission to unlock 189 million euro in SAPARD funds / Funds should be spent by the end of 2009

The European Commission announced on Tuesday its decision to unlock some 189 million euro in SAPARD funds, Agriculture Commissioner spokesperson Michael Mann declared for HotNews.ro. The decision follows the action plan put forward by Romanian authorities after discovering major deficiencies in the program’s management. Mann explained that the money need to be spent by the end of the year.

A year ago the Commission decided to suspend SAPARD funds and recommended a strict compliance with EU norms and regulations. Romania received, through SAPARD, 1.16 billion euro in 2000 to 2006 and out of the 957 billion euro spent in Romania, 768 million euro were cashed in. The other 189 million euro were blocked until now, awaiting for the implementation of the governmental action plan.