European Commissioner - Romania has significant delays in public procurement, healthcare and waste management

European Commissioner Cretu mentioned during a press conference that Romania has significant delays on a number of areas for European funds. “Romania has so far met 14 out of 22 requirements set by the European Commission, but still has areas with significant delays” said Cretu. She adds that there are 280 investment projects for the next years regarding healthcare facilities nd 65 emergency care rooms at county hospitals and three regional hospitals.

"The signing ceremony for the Regional Development Operational Programme for the next years was held on June 23, 2015. Under that programme, three regional hospitals were to be established. (...) I am very sad to see that in March 2016 not even the sites of the hospitals to be are known," said Cretu cited by Agrepress.

"The situation is similar in waste management. There are investment projects worth 380 million euros for the development of waste management, but there is no national plan yet in the area," added Cretu.

This follows the recent announcement by the European Commission that payments for Sectoral Operational Programme for Human Resources Development POSDRU will be interrupted again because of irregularities in the way of project selection, discovered by European officials in a mission audit conducted last year between October 21 to November 10. POSDRU payments were discontinued or suspended by the EC several times in recent years, amid suspicions of fraud.

Following irregularities, the European Commission has now decided not to accept settlement payments required by Romanian authorities for expenditure incurred by beneficiaries after August of 2012. For the period 2007-2013, POSDRU had a budget of 3.4 billion, one of the most important programs financed from European funds.