“There are also delays and repetitive referrals during the approval process. Sometime the maximum interval between approval and implementation — two years — is too short, given these delays,” the European Investment Bank (EIB), the World Bank (WB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in their first report on joint action plan for growth in Central and South Eastern Europe.
Problems concerning EU-funded project preparation in Romania and Bulgaria were identified after JASPERS expanded its field presence in the two countries.
JASPERS is a program aimed to offer technical assistance to EU member states looking for help in preparing projects that seek EU financing. The program is managed by the EIB and co-sponsored by the European Commission, the EBRD and German investment bank KfW.
According to the report, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia have rather low rates of structural and cohesion fund use, due mainly to problems in preparing projects and ensuring counterpart financing.
Romania and Slovakia might be given extra time to attract EU structural funds available for the interval 2007-2013. The proposition, put forward by the European Commission, has been approved by the European Parliament’s committee for Regional Development and is pending a vote by the plenum.
Romania’s EU fund absorption rate reached 23.77% in September, from 21.89% in August, according to the country’s Ministry for European Funds.