Romania supports a 10 pc hike in European Social Fund (ESF) for the 2014-2020 period, Labour Minister Claudia Boghicevici stated.
European Affairs Minister Leonard Orban announced yesterday during a press conference that signals coming from Brussels point to the unblocking of European reimbursements for Romania within the Human Resource Development Operational Programme (POSDRU), capital.ro informs. “I hope they will be unblocked by April 1,” Orban pointed out. The decision to suspend reimbursements affects a sum of EUR 20 M. The Minister also added that he has asked the Labor Ministry and the PSDRU and POSDCA (Administrative Capacity Development Operational Programme) authorities to apply severer rules in what concerns eligibility and the qualitative focus of expenditures made within these programmes, Mediafax informs. “We are in the process of re-analyzing the way in which the European Social Fund (ESF) is working, not just for eligibility criteria, so that certain flexibilities – the term should be understood in a negative sense – that existed until now should no longer exist,” Orban stated. He added that there are clear priorities at national level and called for the financing of priority projects. “I have seen extraordinary projects being implemented. Unfortunately, they are few in number. Let’s make them the majority,” Orban stated. The minister added that unless Romanian authorities take timely measures and prepare the institutional framework “in 2017-2018 they will have the same problems and unsolvable dilemmas.” In her turn, Labour Minister Claudia Boghicevici stated during the same press conference that Romania supports the European Commission’s proposal of hiking the ESF funding by 10 per cent in the upcoming funding period, but that a consensus between political parties, beneficiaries and the civil society is needed. The Labour Minister also underlined that Romania has to reach a consensus in this domain, this being the reason why she proposed the setting up of a national council for European funds, a council that would be coordinated by the Labor Ministry. She added that successful programmes will be rewarded and pointed out that the upcoming period of funding is necessary for concentrating priorities. Boghicevici stated that the funding for the 2014-2020 period should target employment, fight against unemployment among the young, social inclusion, fight against poverty, lifelong learning, research and innovation. Also, the implementation of POSDRU started with large projects that could not be properly managed, Carmen Rosu, the new director of POSDRU’s Managing Authority, stated yesterday. She pointed out that average expenditures stand at 70 per cent of the budget and the aforementioned projects reached their target group to a small extent.
Berca: Tapping into European funds, a top priority
Tapping into European funds represents a national security issue because Romania “desperately” needs these funds and her future depends on the way she behaves, Internal Affairs Minister Gabriel Berca stated during the same press conference.Berca underlined that tapping into European funds is the government’s top priority and that he hopes quick progress will be made in order to make up for the lag. “It’s very clear that the 2014-2020 budget will be hotly negotiated and Romania has to be there, at the negotiating table. And Romania can’t do that unless we tap into funds,” the Internal Affairs Minister added.The dignitary also stated that he has decided to bring another 16 persons at the Internal Affairs Ministry in order to work with European funds, drawing attention to the fact that the processing of files should be made as they come, not on the basis of other interests.
