English
Reporter: How will we be able to get past the current absorption rate of 15%?
Eugen Teodorovici: The absorption rate for European funds was 15% at the end of May, but it was up 32% over December 2012, namely double what it was at the end of April 2012. These increases, which can't be ignored, show that the measures implemented by the Romanian government since back in the spring of 2012 are working.
Additionally, the measures for the simplification, streamlining, and the constant ensuring of the resources needed for the payment of the beneficiaries which we have taken and which are in the process of implementation, will lead to the acceleration of the absorption of European funds, but some of their effects are not immediately reflected in the rate of absorption. There will be cascading effects and you will see in the coming months a significant increase in the amounts reimbursed by the European Commission.
Reporter: What is the current stage of the project to get the banks involved in the approval of the European funds?
Eugen Teodorovici: We have made progress on this project, but there are more details to implement. We've had talks with the banks and we intend for them to be involved in the assessment of the projects, as well as in the process for their implementation. Additionally, we intend to involve the banking system in the process of the payment of the European funds to the beneficiaries. Currently, the money goes through the system, from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry which serves as the Management Authority, and only then does it go to the beneficiaries. Thus, the route of the money is very long, and on every route of this circuit, one or two people issue approvals, grant documents, in other words time and resources are wasted.
On the other hand, it makes sense that the money would get to the beneficiary right away, especially since part of the funds actually return to the state budget afterwards. How we would like it to work in the future is that once the system issues the payment authorization, the bank or the group of banks which may take over this function from the Ministry of Finance, would transfer the money directly into the beneficiary's account. Romania used a similar system in the case of the pre-adhesion funds and it has proved effective.
Reporter: Which programs are the most successful in accessing the funding?
Eugen Teodorovici: The best performer is the Regional Operational Program, with an absorption rate of approximately 30%. Speaking exclusively in terms of the rate of absorption of 25%, the Operational Sectoral Program - The Development of the Administrative Capacity ranks second. Third place, we have the Operational Sectoral Program - Development of Human Resources, which has seen its absorption rate double after the European Commission resumed payments in February this year, causing its current absorption rate to exceed 16%.
Reporter: Which ministry is the most effective "accessing" the funds? Which one is performing the most poorly?
Eugen Teodorovici: The numbers show that the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (MDRAP), which manages the Regional Operational Program. This program has the highest rate of absorption, and over 1.1 billion Euros in European funds have been drawn down. At the same time, the MDRAP is also the management authority of the Operational Program for the Development of the Administrative Capacity (PODCA), a program which ranks second in terms of the rate of absorption of the funds used.
Considering the complexity of the investments as well as the pre-suspension period, the Ministry of Transports only succeeded in using 6.46% of the funds allocated for this segment, meaning less than 300 million Euros.
Reporter: How would you describe the qualifications of the specialists/experts of this segment working in the ministries? How are you considering improving their qualifications?
Eugen Teodorovici: The training of most of the employees involved in the management of European funds leaves a lot to be desired under many aspects, which has also influenced Romania's underperformance in the absorption of the European funds. We have several solutions for dealing with this problem as well, for example accessing funds through the Technical Assistance Operational Program (POAT) in order to train the clerks working in the system.
I also want to conduct a screening of the employees of the Ministry of European Funds by holding a contest, to which I will invite specialists from other institutions to participate, for example employees of the European Commission. The contest will be aimed at selecting the best specialists, instead of keeping those that have experience within the system, but that don't have any results and are not efficient.
Reporter: Given the many cases of fraud involving European funds, how do you intend to stop this phenomenon from spreading?
Eugen Teodorovici: We are working on the amendment of the system of the public procurement system to eliminate the flaws that have led to the suspension of some of the operational programs.
Additionally we are working on a project based on European funds, through which we will build, at the level of the county, municipal and town councils, groups of experts on three thresholds: public procurement, the preparation of projects and management of projects. They will be periodically trained when it comes to the aspects concerning the accessing of European funds and they will contribute to the streamlining of this process, to the speed up of the entire chain of procedures: from the drafting of the projects and the securing of all the permits, all the way to the transmission of the repayment requests.
We have also implemented a new system for the prevention of conflicts of interests which deal with the previous flaws of the use of the EU funds.
Reporter: What changes will occur in the procedure for the accessing of the European funds between 2014 and 2020? Will there be new rules for the assessment and the contracting of the projects?
Eugen Teodorovici: First of all, all the measures which we are currently taking for the simplification, the elimination of red tape and increasing the efficiency of the system will have beneficial effects in the 2014-2020 period as well. On the other hand, the entire system will be built: a new institutional architecture to ensure better coordination and the optimization of the processes at the implementation level, where we need to perform.
Reporter: What criteria are being used for detailing and defining the priority directions of the operational programs for the 2014-2020 period?
Eugen Teodorovici: The operational programs must comply with the requirements of the European legislative framework, which is currently being negotiated as part of the trilateral dialogue between the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, with those of the Europa 2020 strategy, but most of all it needs to ensure the efficient use of the European money to lead to the intelligent, durable and favorable to inclusion development.
Reporter: What is the current stage of unlocking of the pre-suspended programs (the Transport Sectoral Operational Program and The Sectoral Operational Program - Increase of the Economic Competitiveness)?
Eugen Teodorovici: When it comes to both programs, the Audit Authority of the Court of Accounts has sent to the European Commission the favorable report for the resumption of the payments. The Commission will conduct verification missions in the case of each of the two programs, and the final decision will be made in the coming period.
Reporter: What steps did the ministry take to unlock these funds?
Eugen Teodorovici: The Ministry of European Funds (MFE) has allocated teams of specialists to uphold the efforts of the Management Authorities in order to lift the pre-suspension. Also, the MFE has worked together with the Ministry of Transports, and with the Ministry of the Economy, respectively to take all the measures which were requested by the European Commission and the Audit Authority of the Romanian Audit Court, to resume payments under the two programs.
Reporter: What is the current risk of disengagement? What amount are we talking about, in total, for the operational programs?
Eugen Teodorovici: This year, we have to send invoices of 6.1 billion Euros to the European Commission, in order to prevent the automatic disengagement of funds. But this risk is only theoretical, because the automatic disengagement of funds does not apply to the amount of 6.1 billion Euros, only to the balance between that amount and the cumulated value of the invoices which will be sent to the Commission by the end of this year.
Reporter: What are our chances of being able to settle, out of the European funds allocated for the 2007-2013 period, investments in projects of highways and subway expansions? What concrete actions were made by the Ministry in that regard?
Eugen Teodorovici: As a result of the acceptance of the Transport Operational Sectoral Program (POS) by the Commission, the Sebeş-Turda highway was included on the list of projects to be financed. Also due to this change in the program, the 5th subway artery. And since you asked, the Ministry of European Funds is the institution which began the steps for modifying the Transport Sectoral Operational Program and has also had a significant contribution to the materialization of this idea.
Reporter: Thank you!
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