RAMONA IVAN, CEC BANK: "Many beneficiaries with projects from 2008-2010 were unable to complete the contracts"

Many beneficiaries whose projects were approved between 2008-2010 were unable to complete the contracts financed using the European grants, said Ramona Ivan, the head of the Foreign Relations and Structural Financing Department of CEC Bank.

She said: "In Romania, the first applicants' guide was launched in March 2008, and the first project submissions, even on agriculture, started being submitted in August 2008. Even though applicants said that they had the money they needed for the production and ineligible expenses, after the analysis and decision took longer than expected, it would seem the beneficiaries did not have financing sources available. Even though the authorities did not want the projects to be terminated, some cancellations and reallocations of funds happened".

Ramona Ivan emphasized the fact that, even though many think that the hardest part in a project financed using European grants is the one that comes before the signing of the contract, it is very important for the beneficiaries to know what they have to do afterwards. CEC Bank has about 200 specialists all over the country, who inform clients about the risks that may arise during the financing contracts and suggest options.

The representative of CEC mentioned that the bank she represents has a tight cooperation with guarantee funds, and emphasized the fact that a large portion of the funding raised by the bank (CEC Bank recently signed with the EIB an agreement for a line of credit of 100 million Euros) is targeted at agricultural projects.

CEC Bank will also focus its attention on integrated projects, that support themselves, Ramona Ivan said. "CEC is a bank of SMEs and agriculture, (...) we have a strong position on the rural segment. The idea is to finance projects that are sustainable. (...) The number of state authorities that support the business sector is rather low. In the new PNDR (ed. note: the National Program for Rural Development), emphasis is placed on integrated projects, and we intend to focus on this type of projects".

In April 2013, at the Romanian Banking Association (ARB) was created the European Funds Commission, which counts 30 banks as its members - "all those that are interested in supporting projects financed using European grants", she said: "Even though we are competitors, the European banking system has a set of shared principles that we believe in and we try to support our point of view as well as possible. We have focused a lot on what has happened during the current period, on getting the projects successfully implemented, on taking actions, on working closely with the authorities and on trying to conclude partnership agreements under the operational programs between 2014-2020, with a unified point of view".