PM Emil Boc: I am not  pleased with the EU funds absorption capacity

Romania Prime Minister Emil Boc held a press conference on Tuesday, discussing the absorption of European Union funds. Although Romania has a better pace than during the previous governance, Boc says that the absorption capacity is far from pleasing.

PM Emil Boc’s main statements, in brief:

– I am not pleased with Romania’s funds absorption capacity;

– Between December 22, the day the current Government begun its work, and March 20, 2009, 683 operational program projects were approved, compared to 420 – the number of projects approved between 2007 and 2008;

– Referring to effective signing of financing contracts, 360 such contracts were signed during the same period, compared to 168 contracts between 200 and 2008.

– The total value of financing contracts is over 630 million Euros;

– Most projects are in the „Increase of economic competitiveness” operational field;

– What we need to do is to shorten even more the distance between approving a project and signing the financing contract;

– The second problem is the distance between gaining financing and organizing the necessary bids, this problem is often not a Governmental problem. There are terms reaching even 14 months from signing the contract to putting up a bid;

– For this, we begun to modify the public procurement law, reducing the bid organizing term from 87 to 30 days;