According to the sources, the current legislation sets no deadline regarding fund reimbursement request checkups.
Romanian Minister for European Affairs Leonard Orban said earlier Thursday the country has resumed sending the European Commission bills for reimbursement for all programs financed from EU structural funds.
“The decision to resume this process, interrupted in July 2011, has been made after the Romanian party has remedied deficiencies noted following a European Commission audit mission,” said the ministry.
The Commission decided last week to unfreeze EU funds going to Romania through the Regional Operational Program (POR).
In July 2011, Romania decided to stop sending bills for EU fund reimbursements to Brussels until the bills were checked and management authorities made financial corrections.
On October 31, the Ministry for European Affairs said it informed the EC that Romania meets requirements for resumption of reimbursements for projects financed with structural funds.
According to the country’s 2012 state budget, the Romanian Government plans to absorb about EUR6 billion in European funds.
The regional operational program was launched in July 2007. Its budget stands at EUR4.4 billion, of which 84% is ensured by the European Union and the remainder from national resources (14% public co-financing and 2% private co-financing).
Romania’s structural fund absorption rate stood at 3.72% on November 30, according to data released by the Ministry of European Affairs. POR registered the highest fund absorption rate, of 7.53%. The lowest EU fund absorption rate was registered by the operational program for the environment – 1.89%.