MFE to plan training sessions to increase administrative capacity of public and private beneficiaries

One of the weakness of the 2007-2013 programming period that hindered the proper absorption of EU funds was the limited administrative capacity of the beneficiaries. Thus the Ministry of European Funds (MFE) is planning training sessions to improve the situation, Aura Carmen Raducu, the Minister of European Funds, tells The Diplomat – Bucharest

2016-02-07 16:37:38 - From the Print Edition

"The lessons learned from the first financial exercise have shown that better coordination of the interventions financed by ESI Funds as well as better coordination of the institution involved in the implementation system of the funds is a prerequisite," Raducu tells The Diplomat – Bucharest. "This is the main reason that led to the settlement of the Ministry of the European Funds at the beginning of 2013, a measure that led to a significant improvement of the absorption rate. Still, additional efforts must be made to consolidate coordination as well as to ensure a sound and efficient implementation of funds. In addition, another difficulty encountered was related to the limited administrative capacity of the beneficiaries to properly prepare and implement projects, which led to difficulties in implementation of projects. In order to tackle this shortcoming, during the 2014-2020 financial period training sessions are planned in order to increase the administrative capacity for both public and private beneficiaries."
Another aspect identified by Raducu as a bottleneck in EU funds absorption relates to the difficult and burdensome procedures that the beneficiaries and the management authorities must follow during implementation. Thus, in this regard, the authorities are developing a computerized system in order to simplify procedures as well as diminish the volume of documents submitted by the beneficiaries during the new financial period, 2014-2020. "The Ministry of European Funds already works on developing a computerized system, MySMIS2014 and SMIS2014, based on which all exchanges of information between beneficiaries and a managing authority and intermediary bodies will be made via electronic data interchange systems," say the Minister of European Funds. "This system will simplify procedures as well as diminish the volume of documents submitted by the beneficiaries."
Raducu went on to add that Romania approved the National Strategy for Public Procurement, an extremely important document for implementation of projects financed from public funds, ESI Funds included. "The implementation of the Strategy is closely monitored by both the Romanian Government and the European Commission, important progress being already achieved," she says. "Nevertheless, all the national authorities involved should make additional efforts in order to fully implement the foreseen measures in the time frame agreed."
According to the website of the European Commission, the absorption rate of Romania towards the end of November 2015 was 69.9 per cent, representing the percentage of funds paid (including interim payments and pre-financing) compared to the total available budget for EU Cohesion Policy, while the level of payment made by the Romanian authorities to project beneficiaries stood at 74 per cent at the end of 2015 (amounts covering both state budget and EU contribution). Read more about The Diplomat's interview with the Minister of European Funds in the March – April issue.