Romanian analyst Sorin Ionita on EU funds absorption: Ministries projects worse than those of local administrators

The head of the Romanian Academic Society, a Romanian NGO, said in a HotNews.ro-Deutsche Welle talk show that ministers are mistaken when claiming that EU funds are not absorbed because of the local administration. For his part, journalist Robert Schwartz said that in German media Romania is mentioned as the third state on the brink of bankruptcy in Eastern Europe.

Sorin Ionita:

• Large, infrastructure projects operated by Romanian ministries are the ones to be applied late and to have seen the worst application
• When a minister comes and points his finger to the local administration, one should not believe him as nobody spends as bad as the government does
• Small and medium projects at local administration level are applied a bit better than those of the ministries
• There are antrepreneurs who have submitted projects a year ago and whose files are still not scheduled for evaluation
• The crisis has turned business plans upside down
• Very little of EU money has been spent and causes are different from one case to another

Robert Schwartz:

• Experts in Germany say the crisis would need a massive effort for SE European countries. There is talk about as much about 300 billion euro
• Over the past several days, German language media published articles where Romania is mentioned as the third country in Eastern Europe on the brink of bankruptcy
• In Germany, many think that countries such as Romania or Bulgaria joined the EU too early and brought their problems to the old Union
• Still talk is simpathetic about Romania’s problems