EC unblocks funding of Romania's environment schemes

The European Commission (EC) has decided to resume payments under its Operational Programme on Environment to Romania. Following yesterday's decision (November 28 ), claims for reimbursement of money spent on projects covered by the scheme can now be processed. The EC blocked payments under Romania's Environment Operational Programme back in July this year, along with three others, due to financial irregularities and mismanagement of funds. However, the EC announced yesterday that it “welcomes the improvements to control and management systems,” which have made the decision to renew payments possible. Conflicts of interest, one of the most important of the EC's concerns, can now be detected and resolved. The EC also confirmed that Romania had agreed to return 10 percent of funds paid out under the scheme before October 2011 to cover the financial corrections the EC demanded. Romania can use the returned cash again, but only for new projects, not those originally proposed. The EC added that it is “following with interest” progress made on the other three blocked schemes to see when payments can resume. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: sxc.hu)