Spend our money faster, EU tells Romania

(BUCHAREST) - Romania has no time to waste if it wants to spend billions of euros in European aid placed at its disposal until 2013, EU commissioner for Regional policy Johannes Hahn said Friday in Bucharest.

"2012 must be the year of implementation, otherwise there is a risk of losing this money," Hahn told a press conference.

The EU has slated 20 billion euros for Romania over 2007-2013 but the Balkan country has barely spent 3.7 percent of it.

"It is a crucial year also in the perspective of receiving money" in the next 2014-2020 budget, Hahn said.

Hahn said it was too early to say if the whole amount could be used before the end of this period and urged Romanian authorities to "try harder."

"The budget for Romania in the next financial perspective could be at least the same as the current one, but this demands a strong contribution."

Romania's newly appointed Europe minister Leonard Orban stressed that the government's top priority was to revamp the public procurement law, criticised by the EU and deemed an obstacle to fully capitalising on the EU handout.

A former EU commissioner, he said in an interview to AFP Thursday that his goal was to spend 20 percent of EU cash by the end of 2012.

"This is an ambitious but compulsory target if Romania wants not to lose money," he stressed.