Commissioner Creţu:I no longer accept insults from the Romanian Government

“I no longer accept insults from the Romanian Government”, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Creţu, said on Monday in a press conference in Brussels. Statement comes in response to repeated admonishments for speaking the truth, after EU Commissioner warned authorities in Bucharest that Romania is losing EU money due to lack of projects.

"It is my duty, as a European Commissioner for Regional Policy, to alert all Member States, including Romania, on the risk of losing or disengaging funds, especially in the field of infrastructure, given that they are complex works that require years to be completed, and I have to do my job and say when a country risks losing its chances to develop for the generations to come. As you know, since I became European Commissioner for Regional Policy, I have tried to help with the absorption rate for the less developed regions. In Romania’s case, we have made extraordinary efforts, in the sense that we have phased out many projects worth three billion euros, we have practically relieved the national budget of three billion euros, money that would have been lost", said the European high-ranking official, in a press conference held in Brussels.

"We have approved retrospective projects, meaning projects that are being carried out but for which the Romanian state has paid loans to the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). We have taken over payment of the salaries of all workers on European funds so that the absorption rate for the period 2007 - 2013 increased to 90. Two billion euros have been lost, unfortunately in the most vulnerable and most necessary area for Romania, Transport. For the period 2014-2020, we are making superhuman efforts to avoid fund disengagement. There is a risk of losses this year. At the beginning of the year it was 800 million, but we are working with the Romanian authorities to minimize these funds that are under the Regional Operational Program", Creţu continued.

EU Commissioner added that in the area of infrastructure there is not yet a risk of loss for this year, precisely because there are projects that have been started over the past years.

"I do not understand the tension that has been created between me and the Government because I said things by name. We have money in Brussels for infrastructure projects, but we have no projects". Târgu Mureş – Iaşi (highway, n.a.) is a priority of the European Commission, and I say it with all sincerity here, on the podium of the European Commission, we need to complete the infrastructure projects that connect Europe, especially with the Republic of Moldova, Moldavia, Central and Eastern Europe", Commissioner Creţu said.

We have money for feasibility studies, we have no demand for these feasibility studies”, Corina Creţu added.

"If we make the offer and we can do the feasibility study by 2020-2021 and start building the Târgu Mureş - Iaşi highway, I think we would take a step forward and it would be an important step. Unfortunately, we saw that in its sitting, the Government announced that it wants to build this highway in the public-private partnership system. Our specialists are not comfortable with this approach, because it means deprioritizing this investment. From our point of view, you know very well that in the European ATM Master Plan, Târgu Mureş - Iaşi highway is a priority. Therefore, we expect projects”, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Creţu, underlined.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei