Barosso: Fair to give Romania Schengen member status, but 'painfully low' EU funds absorption rate

The President of the European Commission (EC), Jose Manuel Barosso has recently said, after a meeting in Brussels with the Romanian Prime Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, that Romania’s current absorption rate of structural funds of 7.8 percent is 'painfully low'. In the same meeting, he said Romania can count on the European Commission for a final decision on the country's accession to Schengen to be made in September this year. "It is fair to give Romania a status of member of Schengen,” said Barosso.

“The use of structural funds and cohesion funds are a crucial part of the potential growth of the country. As the Romanian Prime Minister said, a growth in absorption of EU funds could increase the country’s GDP by 1.8 percent per year,” said Jose Manuel Barosso. The President of the European Commission also talked about the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), saying that he recognizes the Romanian Government’s commitment to reform, “which was very well reflected in the Commission’s last interim report”. He also encouraged the country’s Government to continue reforms. However, Barosso said that the European Commission will reject any attempt to link the issue of Schengen to the cooperation mechanism, as it is a matter of fairness. The Romanian PM said that the Government will continue the reforms in justice and in fighting corruption in order to consolidate further positive reports. The Romanian government’s main objective is to improve the absorption of structural funds. “I’ve said it before: it's money that cost less when you have them, but very much when you lose them,” said Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu. Romania, which joined the European Union in 2007, has been constantly evaluated by the European Commission, which aimed at ensuring the justice system in the country allows for the implementation of EU’s policies and legal framework. This was part of the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: EC)