Romania absorbed under 3% of the European funds that could be accessed by Romanian firms, authorities and organizations during 2007-2013, three years after the country’s accession to the EU,

‘Evenimentul Zilei’ newspaper has issued a report on the use that Romania has made of European funds. For 2007-2009 Romania already made payments from EU money worth 9.58% of the allotted sum, show data released by the Authority for the Coordination of Structural Instruments (ACIS).

Consultants say this is not bad at all, because “in 2009, money has started to flow for the projects submitted in 2008, and often it takes a very long time to prepare the projects and bids for public acquisitions,” explained Cristian Badiu, head of the Grants & Incentives Department of the auditing and consulting firm Deloitte Romania.

According to consultants, if not for the economic crisis, next year Romania would have witnessed a boom in accessing European money. “2010 is the middle year of the allotting period, an evaluation will be made at country level and it will be a peak in regard to the efforts of Romanian authorities. They will be under so much pressure that they will have to do something,” Badiu says.

The Deloitte consultants think that Romanian local and central authorities actually are much better informed now than two years ago, about programs financed with European money.

Part of the beneficiaries had to drop the projects, because of the RON devaluation between the moment when the project was submitted and the one when the contract was signed. Regarding agriculture, the consultants say authorities should devise a coherent strategy, because “the conditions for developing this sector are fantastic and they must be put to good use.”