The Executive has approved the Government Emergency Ordinance on the setting up of the Ministry of European Affairs
The Government has approved via Emergency Ordinance, the setting up of the Ministry of European Affairs that will have as main responsibilities, management of the process of coordination of European Affairs and horizontal coordination of the management of EU funds absorption process, Minister of European Affairs, Mr. Leonard Orban has stated.
According to the field Minister, a priority of the Ministry of European Affairs is finalization of amendments in the management system of public procurement, so that in a very short time, the process of sending invoices to European Commission is taken over.
“Currently, we do not send invoices to the European Commission on anything that means operational programme where public procurement processes are involved, and further on, we will resume this process of sending invoices. My estimates are that, at the earliest, during November, we will resume this process”, Minister has stated, not excluding the possibility to amend the current rules.
Minister Leonard Orban stated that in case of those projects where problems will be identified, funding will be withdrawn, but money will not be lost but will be transferred to other projects. Minister has reiterated that the set target is that by the end of 2012, Romania will achieve a rate of absorption in terms of cohesion policy funding of at least 20%.Under the normative document adopted today, the leadership of the Ministry will be composed of Minister, and two Secretaries of State, the Minister stating that no additional employment will be made.
“I insist on this issue. We do not hire additional staff; will work with the current staff. Of course, we will make an assessment of all staff, we will see who deserves to remain in the system and who does not meet the requirements of this position, “Minister has stated.
Also, the newly created Ministry will have a single managing authority, the one related to technical assistance. Minister has stated that probably next week, there will be elaborated a draft Executive decision, which will include other provisions, including administrative ones, related to the functioning of this Ministry.
Answering a question on the refusal of some European countries to approve Romania’s accession to Schengen Area, Leonard Orban said: “A first issue that seems absolutely normal to me is that this issue be raised at the European Council, since there was a political agreement on this subject, at the previous meeting of European Council, in June. If we see that tomorrow, the refusal of Netherlands and perhaps of Finland on the Schengen area enlargement materializes, that agreement is no longer in force and surely, we will have to react accordingly. ”
Source: gov.ro
