Ponta said the Government plans to enact a program meant to help avoid losing EU funds, adding, however, that if the program isn’t set in motion until the end of the year, the Executive will take “radical” measures to restructure the authority managing POSDRU.
Ponta stressed that all those found guilty must be held accountable both civilly and criminally for this “robbery.”
The prime minister has presented “off-the-record” data regarding an audit of POSDRU which revealed that only 6% of a total of EUR2 billion put at Romania’s disposal was discounted, with 2,500 contracts being concluded, and serious flaws were found in the evaluation and verification of projects.
In February this year, the European Commission officially notified Romania it was halting payments for EU-funded human resources programs. According to EU structural fund regulations, the Commission may suspend payments for maximum six months.
Early April, the Commission announced it had decided to resume payments for the HR development program, owing to progress in its implementation, as reflected in a report by the Romanian Audit Authority.