Part of Blocked EU Funding Released

08. 08. 2013

Part of Blocked EU Funding Released


The European Commission has released a part of the funding for Slovenia that it suspended in May over fraud in EU-funded projects, the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija reported on Tuesday.

 

 

 

 

The commission approved EUR 77m out of nearly EUR 250m worth of funding the payment of which was suspended after Slovenian oversight bodies established a number of flaws in EU-funded projects for 2011, the report said.

The Budget Oversight Office detected flaws in 34 of the 71 random cases it had checked as part of a revision of payments from EU funds, including a suspected purchase of old medical equipment that was declared as new subsidised by EUR 1.32m and a EUR 3.17m project of a golf course that was never built.

 

The commission decided for the suspension in early May because the percentage of error exceeded the allowed 2% margin. In the meantime Slovenia presented remedial measures to improve the country's system for the use of EU funds.

 

The Commission was satisfied with the measures and notified Slovenia on Tuesday that the funding from the programmes for environmental and transport infrastructure would be unblocked, Radio Slovenija and TV Slovenija reported, citing a commission official.

 

Meanwhile, the commission is still examining measures to improve the use of EU funds available in the regional development programme, where it had blocked EUR 170m. A decision is expected to be taken after summer recess.

 

Source: The Slovenia Times

 

Part of Blocked EU Funding Released