Beneficiaries of EU funds: We need a white list of good consultants
Putting together a "white list" of consultants and experts in
drawing up and implementing projects financed with EU funds based
on past experience could be one of the measures that would lead to
a high rate of absorption of EU funds, say project beneficiaries
and representatives of banks that grant loans for EU-funded
programs.
The advice of those who accessed EU funds for the first time for
future and even for current beneficiaries is to find the consultant
who drew up the project and keep them close for the entire
implementation period, in order for the rate of absorption of EU
money to be as high as possible, said participants at the
conference "The caravan of EU funds 2011 - How will EU funds change
Romania?," organized yesterday by Ziarul Financiar in Constan]a in
partnership with AMPOSDRU, the management authority that handles
EUR4.25 billion in human resources funds, and with Banca
Transilvania bank.
Cristina Predea, general manager of BrainWave Communication, the
company currently implementing a project financed with HR European
funds, which has 1,700 people as a target group, says one needs to
choose the project team very carefully for a European project,
because nobody, neither the auditor, nor the consultant or the
certified accountant takes responsibility for problems that may
occur.
"The team is the core element that sees the project through because
getting the project approved is only the first step, implementation
is the major problem. It was impossible for us to implement the
project because we did not have a relationship with those who drew
up the project. We were completely unprepared when we accessed the
funds, the consultant wrote indicators and targets that sent us
banging our heads against the wall when it came to implementation.
Working with one's own team of consultants is vital, because
otherwise, no matter how well a project is drawn up, the chances of
implementing it correctly are very slim," Predea said.