EU money has to be regarded as investments meant to add value

Beneficiaries of European funds should regard the EU money as a long-term investment meant to add value to the company, with the most important phase being the implementation of the project, at which point, if the procedures provided for in the financing contract are not met, firms can lose the grant.
Tiberiu Moisa, executive manager of the Corporate clients and SMEs department of Banca Transilvania (Transilvania Bank), says beneficiaries take on a major risk when they implement a EU-funded project because they can get less money from the EU if they do not follow the necessary steps.
"In order to get EU funding, procedures must be followed step by step. A well-implemented project spares the beneficiary the risk of having to repay more. If the spending of the money is not done in accordance with the provisions in the project, the beneficiary could be forced to cofinance more than they had originally expected," explained Tiberiu Moisa at the conference "How to get money from the EU? Learn from companies that have received EU funding," organised by ZF yesterday in Cluj in partnership with Banca Transilvania, CEC Bank, and Bostina&Asociatii law firm.