How companies came to fight over European funds

Almost 700 companies have come up with strategies to get EU money and sought methods to apply faster on the day when the procedure for online registration of projects kicked off, showing that in certain sectors for which EU funds are available, companies have projects that can absorb more money than was allocated by the EU until 2013.

“We worked through the weekend to put together the necessary documentation we posted on Saturday. Fourteen employees worked on registration of the projects simultaneously. We had the forms ready in advance, and when registration kicked off, we just pressed the registration button,” explains Deszo Peter, general manager of Goodwill Consulting, which registered a total of 41 projects worth around 2 million euros with the Sectorial Operational Programme Increase of Economic Competitiveness, “Investment projects of up to 1,075,000 RON.” The call for projects was launched on Monday at 9 o’clock and was suspended after 80 minutes because the amount applied for twice exceeded the allocated budget of 300 million RON (73 million euros).