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EC Extends SAPARD Funds Payment Deadline For Romania, Bulgaria By One Year

The European Commission adopted a decision Tuesday allowing Bulgaria and Romania to extend the deadline for payments of SAPARD funds by one year, from 31 December 2008 to 31 December 2009, according to a press release issued by the European Commission.
EC Extends SAPARD Funds Payment Deadline For Romania, Bulgaria By One Year
02 dec. 2008, 18:41, English

"Both countries faced delays in payments partly because of limited administrative capacity to manage the SAPARD programmes and partly because of a low absorption capacity of beneficiaries of the programme," the document reads.
 
The press release adds the payments from these funds were suspended for Romania as well as Bulgaria, and "the extension of the deadline will give the Bulgarian and Romanian authorities extra time to ensure that these problems are properly addressed before final payments are made."
 
The Commission sent a letter to Romanian authorities on October 25 requiring further information to enable it to make a decision on the continuation of SAPARD payments.
 
The payments to the beneficiaries of the SAPARD program were temporarily ceased by Romanian authorities, until the technical deficiencies signaled in the European Commission report are mended, secretary of state within the Ministry of Economy and Finance Alice Batu said late August.
 
"This is only for several weeks and we cannot speak of quantifying certain sums. All payments will be resumed when the technical procedures signaled by the European Commission are mended," Batu said.
 
She added the audit conducted by Commission representatives in June revealed several deficiencies at the Agency for Payments for Rural Development and Fisheries (APDRP), which manages SAPARD funds. The problems mainly involved the procedures for the authorization of payments.
 
The beneficiaries of SAPARD funds submit payment requests as they complete works in the investment projects approved, and the sums are distributed from budget funds and later reimbursed by the Commission.