Local authorities that have received pre-financing from the ministry but did not present invoices for refunds will be penalized, said the minister. This is the case with several counties, including Arges, Iasi, and Teleorman.
In some instances, said Udrea, the beneficiary has not completed or has not even started the procurement auction.
The money will be redistributed to local authorities that have signed the contracts with developers and are currently implementing projects.
The European Commission halted reimbursements for the second priority axis of the Regional Operational Program, managed by the Development Ministry, as of June 11, 2011, because of problems revealed by an annual control of public procurement.
In July 2011, Romania decided to stop sending the EU bills for reimbursements for all operational programs, until the procurement verification, management and control system is considered legal and fair. The decision was made after suspicions surfaced regarding problems with the public purchase systems of other operational programs.
Later that month, the European Commission imposed a series of requirements on Romania’s management and control system, to guarantee its reliability.
The Ministry of European Affairs on Tuesday announced it has sent the Commission evidence that the system met these requirements, estimating that bills could be sent once more to Brussels for reimbursement starting in November or December.
The ministry stated the data provided to the Commission proved that Romania had fixed the procurement system problems identified by the EU auditors and that the authorities had carried out a new check on projects already running.
(EUR1=RON4.3435)