EU Ambassadors Urge Romania To Tackle Abusive Public Auction Proceedings -Sources

People present at the talks said EU ambassadors complained about trials pending in commercial courts way too long and about abusive public procurement auctions and called on Boc to tackle the issue.

„Based on the information provided by foreign companies, EU ambassadors complain about trials pending in court way too long and about numerous auctions being cancelled based on no solid grounds,” the sources said.

According to sources, Boc assured EU ambassadors that the Romanian government plans to amend public procurement laws again, in order to simplify and make auction proceedings highly transparent.

Boc also said reforms in the country’s legal system target, among others, to reduce trial periods.

Sources said last week the government plans to amend public procurement laws again in order to simplify proceedings needed to absorb European Union funds, by introducing transparent auction scrutiny rules meant to wipe out the overlapping of attributions between institutions, namely the National Authority Regulating and Monitoring Public Auctions, on the one hand, and authorities managing sectoral programs, on the other hand.

In 2009, the Romanian authorities amended the public procurement legislation twice, following talks with European Commission experts, in order to simplify auction proceedings.