The EUR18 billion translate into over EUR800 per month for every Romanian.
Of all the losses, the most dramatic is the lack of skill in attracting European funds. The line will be drawn on December 31, 2012, when according to EU regulations, the funds not yet drawn are cancelled.
The official in charge of Romania from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Regional Policy, Anton Schrag, warned the Romanian authorities that December 2012 is the deadline after which the money not yet drawn from the EU will no longer be possible to use.
This means that Romania will have to draw EUR6 billion from the EU until December 2012 and this money will have to be payments actually made (the so-called claim money). Payments made by the European Commission to Romanian management authorities so far amount to some EUR700 million.
This is even more difficult considering that EU stopped making payments to European programs in Romania in July 2010 after having found cases of fraud in the allocation of the regional development axis at the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism.
(English version by Loredana Frățilă-Cristescu)