“We are making efforts to prevent such cases in the future, but we cannot guarantee it, as the rules are very harsh. The institutions that manage community funds in Romania have a very bad image in Brussels. Unfortunately, they have failed to completely fulfil their duties for a very long time, and we need to pay more attention now than ever, in order to avoid more unpleasant situations in the future.”

Between February 29th and March 2nd, a delegation from the European Commission will assess the situation in Bucharest and the reason why Romanian officials have failed to implement the European recommendations. The result of this report will be forwarded to Brussels. The Romanian authorities hope the irregularities will be resolved until the end of March and the payments resumed. Irregularities were found in the management of the human resources development programme. The government spokesman, Dan Suciu, said that if the programme was resumed within weeks, its impact on the economy would be negligible.

The beneficiaries of the project would not be affected, as the Romanian state will provide the funding during the interruption of EU funding. The opposition in Bucharest believes Romania’s economic development in 2012 will be solely determined by the absorption of European funds. They also announced filing a simple motion on EU fund absorption next week. The Social Liberal Union believes the 6 billion euros Romania could receive from Brussels could be the catalyst the country needs to achieve economic stability. The freezing of European funds could translate as economic disaster for Romania this year, the opposition also warns.