Romania's lost EU funding

Evenimentul Zilei newspaper comments on how Romanian authorities forgot to withdraw EU funding that was at their disposition: "When people talk about local projects being delayed, it's usually the central authorities who are blamed. Another myth that is carefully preserved is that European funding is managed by local authorities and that they have the power to decide how it is allocated. ... For example we have lost access to between 20 and 30 million euros from the PHARE funding scheme. The contracts were to have been signed by November 30, but certain high-ranking finance officials forgot to put out the tenders in time to meet the deadline. ... It was all foreseeable, all it would have taken was for someone to look at the calendar on the wall in the summer and count the days that remained until the deadline. In the meantime the change of government has led to the departure of the officials and ministers in question, and the EU will take back its money - for thank goodness there are still people elsewhere who will know what to do with this money."

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