The management authorities must send the ministry a chart of fund requests broken down by month. They must refund these loans by the end of the year from the reimbursements sent by the European Commission, or be charged an interest equal to the central bank’s key rate plus one point.
Through a recent order of the minister of Finance, the state pre-financing ceiling for EU-funded projects has been reduced drastically, to 10% from 30%, and companies that fail to provide the refund paperwork in four months shall be required to return the entire sum.
The ceiling was reduced as many companies that receive pre-financing fail to later send the authorities their expense bills, so the ministries in turn are unable to request reimbursements from the EU and the Commission denies further funds until these gaps are covered.
(EUR1=RON4.2246)