According to some estimates, almost 6,000 civil servants involved in EU fund drawing have switched to the private sector since 2007 until present, driven away by the low public sector salaries.
Companies no longer have the right to hire individuals who were involved in the process of checking/assessing funding applications for at least 12 months since the funding contract was signed. Authorities may cancel the contracts should they find such irregularities.
“Maybe it would have been better for such rules to come into effect some time ago. It is not normal for a person who checked the projects and had access to certain information to go and work in the project he or she had checked,” said Finance Ministry state secretary Dan Lazar.
A civil servant checking European projects has a monthly salary of EUR200 to EUR300, while a project assistant working with a private company that got EU funding can earn between EUR1,000 and EUR2,000 per month.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu; Editing by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)