PM Ponta: EU funds rate of utilization up 52 pct since May 2012

Prime Minister Victor Ponta says his governments brought the rate of utilization of European funds from 7 percent in May 2012 to 52 percent; the target for 2015 is 75-80 percent of the available structural and cohesion funds, he declared on Thursday.

Photo credit: (c) Cristian NISTOR / AGERPRES PHOTO

'It was probably one of the most difficult challenges we had as a government (...). Today ? actually, on December 31 ? the rate of utilization of the structural and cohesion funds reached 52 percent, and our goal is to reach 75-80 percent this year,' he said in a presentation of the status of EU funds utilization at the Government offices.

He added some people could look at 'the empty half of the glass.'

'Why would 20 percent of the money remain unused? Because for five years we used nothing of it, and all we have done was accomplished over the past three years. I'd rather look at the full half, to the fact that from 7 percent to 52 percent Romania is by far the country that achieved the biggest progress out all the 27, plus Croatia, of course in 2013-2014. And moreover, it is one of the best prepared countries ? indeed, it was the 11th country for which the partnership agreement was approved for the 2014-2020 budget. And directly, from the countless mistakes and bad lessons of 2009-2011-2012, we learned; and in the future we can avoid the problems we had in the beginning,' the prime minister asserted.AGERPRES