“EUR320 million is available for this program and no funds have been attracted so far,” said Fuia.
He said the new headship of the program’s management authority will have to come up with a EU fund absorption plan by March 15.
The Agriculture Ministry has attracted EUR502 million so far and wants reach EUR1 billion in the first quarter of the year, Fuia added.
Improving the country’s EU fund absorption is one of the biggest challenges for Romania’s new Government, led by Prime Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, considering that the 2012 state budget was built on the premise the country will attract some EUR6 billion in EU funds, of which EUR2.5 billion in the agriculture sector and EUR3.5 billion in structural and cohesion funds.
The European Commission officially notified Romania Monday it is halting payments for EU-funded human resources programs.