The Minister of European Affairs, Leonard Orban, yesterday said the letter received from the EC on the suspension of payments within POSDRU referred to a request for the reimbursement of EUR 20 M, but, until payments resume, no further request will be sent to the Commission, according to Mediafax. The minister insisted on the fact that, for now, no money has been lost. ‘It’s just a delay we hope will be as short as possible. The issue that remains is image-related and not the actual loss of funds because, undoubtedly, such a decision will make things more strict and conditions tougher, which will impair absorption speed and the whole process,’ said Orban. Asked if, as it has been suggested, the Development of Administrative Capacity Operational Programme was also in danger of being suspended, Orban denied such possibility. The Ministry of European Affairs received a week ago a letter from the European Commission announcing the suspension of the payment term for the requests submitted within the Operational Programme for the Development of Human Resources (POSDRU). Government Spokesman Dan Suciu said that, during the period between February 29 and March 2, an EC delegation would analyse the situation and the reason fro which initial recommendations were not implemented. The findings of the analysis will be sent to Brassies and the Government hopes the situation will be remedied before the end if March.
