Romania has absorbed only 59% (EUR 19.8 bln) of the EUR 33.2 bln allocated by the European Union under the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020. The country has only two years left, until the end of 2023, to draw the rest of EUR 13.6 bln - according to data provided by the European Commission to HotNews and Starupcafe.ro.

The average absorption rate for the entire EU is 67%.

Under the first MFF (2007-2013), Romania managed to achieve a 92% absorption rate and lost only EUR 2.7 bln.

"I am very worried about the poor absorption of European funds; we risk losing a lot of money, necessary for Romania's development, it is imminent to lose large sums," Corina Cretu, MEP, member of the REGI Commission, told StartupCafe.ro.

The EUR 13.6 bln are still available to Romania through all eight European sources, including the Cohesion Fund, the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the European Rural Development Fund.

At the national level, these funds are managed by bodies within the Ministry of European Investment and Projects (MIPE), the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration (MDLPA), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR).

(Photo: Marian Vejcik/ Dreamstime)

andrei@romania-insider.com