These conclusions were issued in a meeting between agriculture minister Ilie Sarbu, accompanied by secretaries of state, and the management of the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA).
"The analysis revealed that the data circuit is rendered bulkier because of auxiliary procedures meant to remove overstatement, but which push back to unacceptable extents the deadlines for payment, through successive recalls of the future beneficiaries at the agency’s county centers. In addition, the agency’s territorial units claim deficiencies and interruptions in the computer system," said a press release issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Rural Development (MAPDR).
At the same time, there is overlapping between departments and position functions, which often leads to the delaying of deadlines and inefficiency in the unfolding of the administrative act, the document states.
The Romanian agriculture minister established at the end of last year, together with APIA management, an action plan to begin granting single payments on surface starting March 2009, with most sums reaching the accounts of beneficiaries between March and April.
The sum granted in 2008 will reach some 400 lei (EUR1 = RON4.2872) per hectare.