Romania loses EUR 0.5 bln EU funds, due to slow implementation

Romania will lose almost EUR 0.5 billion of EU funds due to unfinished utilities projects run by local authorities within the Operational Programme for Environment. Romania was allocated EUR 3.15 billion for this programme, EUR 2.77 billion of which represented EU money from the Cohesion Fund. Local authorities are currently running 50 EU-financed projects of water supply, sewerage and wastewater treatment. However, many of these projects stand no chance to be completed by December 31, this year, the deadline for Romania to absorb the EU funds from the 2007-2013 programming period, according to data from the Finance Ministry, cited by local Hotnews.ro. Some of these projects may thus be broken into pieces and finished with EU funds from the 2014-2020 programming period. editor@romania-insider.com