VILNIUS - On Nov. 9, the Lithuanian Finance Ministry, in response to a negative report by EU budget commissioner Daila Grybauskaite, proposed creating a new agency to handle the implementation of EU funds. Yet Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas promptly dismissed the idea.
Europe stands ready to give Lithuania 10.4 billion euros in assistance from 2007-2013. However, as of the end of September 2006, Lithuania had only implemented 25.6 percent of its available EU funds.
During her September visit to Vilnius, Grybauskaite lambasted the Lithuanian government's slow implementation of EU funds.
"Now you have to analyze how to alleviate bureaucratic procedures," she said. "This is especially important considering that the amounts assigned to Lithuania are getting larger each year. In 2005, the amount was 1.7 billion more than in 2004. In 2007 the rise will also be significant."
Indeed, the EU's 2007 budget expenditures in Lithuania will equal 6 percent of the country's gross national income (GNI), up from 3.3 percent in 2005 and 2.8 percent
in 2004.
The Finance Ministry reacted to Gybauskaite's call to reform bureaucracy by proposing the creation of a new subordinate agency responsible for distributing EU assistance.
The proposed agency, the Action Program Management Agency (APMA), would have a top executive, appointed without competition, who would be authorized to manage one fourth of the national budget during the next seven years. In addition, the agency would have an important say in the selection of projects, according to a Nov. 9 report in the Lietuvos Rytas daily.
The Finance Ministry, urged that the government take action in order to meet the Dec. 1 deadline for the presentation of national action programs of structural fund use in Brussels.
However, during an interview with radio station Ziniu Radijas on Nov. 9, Prime Minister Kirkilas expressed doubts about the Finance Ministry's idea.
"The decision has not been taken as of yet. Right now this is just an idea," Kirkilas said. "The scale of assistance is truly significant. The ministry has come up with an idea, but I don't believe it's the appropriate one in this case, although we still have to consider it."
