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Romania's NGOs face closure as EU funds are cut off

24 October 2012, 15:07 CET
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(BUCHAREST) - Hundreds of Romanian organisations working for the integration of Roma, the disabled and the vulnerable are facing shutdown because failings by the government have led to European Union funds being withheld.

Hundreds of those affected protested in several towns Wednesday.

The Impreuna (Together) association, which has been working for the past 13 years on Roma community development, has been waiting for more than a year for reimbursement of the expenses it incurred for five vocational retraining projects. Normally the waiting time is 45 days.

"It is the first time that the very existence of the association is in danger," according to association president Gelu Duminica. "In two months if the situation doesn't change we will have to close down," she told AFP.

Impreuna has already had to lose half its staff as it cannot pay them. It is a pattern that repeats itself throughout the country's civil society.

In a country where the state often faces charges of inertia or inefficiency non-governmental organisations (NGOs) play a crucial role in the development of society, diplomats and experts say.

"We cannot continue these projects financed by the European Union (EU) any longer because we have no more money but no more can we halt them because when we obtained the funds we promised Brussels to see them through or face having to pay the money back," said Amedeea Enache, director of the Estuar foundation, which specialises in integrating people with mental disabilities into the labour market.

The European Commission has provided Bucharest with 20 billion euros ($26 billion) between2007 and 2013 to help it catch up with other member states.

A total of 3.5 billion euros ($4.5 billion) was directed at human resources development programmes (POSDRU).

This money is channelled through the Romanian government which is charged by the EU both with approving requests for finance and also managing the repayments effected throughout the implementation of the projects.

However, a European Commission audit has highlighted problems in the evaluation and eligibility of the projects. In May the EU stopped payments.

"The Romanian government is responsible for ensuring that the activity of these projects is not affected," the commission told AFP. In other words, it is up to the Romanian government to ensure payments are made.

But it pleads a lack of resources. Following heavy NGO pressure, 100 million euros ($142 million) were released at the end of September to settle about 1,500 requests for payment.

Meanwhile the ministry of labour, which is responsible for POSDRU, insists that it has taken "a series of essential and urgent steps" to fill the gaps identified by the EU.

Romania risks losing 100 million euros if payments are suspended until the end of the year and 1.1 billion if the suspension continues in 2013.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta conceded Wednesday that Romania would suffer financial consequences following its breaches.

European experts will visit the country to assess the progress the Romanian authorities have made and decide on a possible resumption of repayments.

"These European funds represented an unheard of opportunity for the development of Romanian civil society but the institutional incapacity of our state has turned them into a real ordeal," according to Flavia Preda, who works for a coalition of NGOs at the centre for resources for public participation.

"It's sad but European money isn't at all attractive today and the associations are doing all they can to find other less risky sources of finance."


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