The European Commission will stop all payments of the European
Regional Development Fund/Cohesion fund to Greece for the 2014-2020
programmes. This is confirmed by an internal letter obtained by New
Europe signed by
Walter Deffaa, Director-General for Regional Development (see below).
The reason for the Commission’s pause is an investigation of the
Greek competition authority, which concerns possible manipulation of
tendering procedures for major infrastructure projects.
While the letter was circulated internally on June 17, it is expected
that the decision will not be announced until after the European
Commission President,
Jean-Claude Juncker, has concluded his trip to the Greek capital, but before the competition authority will examine the case on July 21.
The European Commission did not immediately respond to New Europe on
whether the President had discussed the issue with Greek Prime Minister
Alexis Tsipras, or as to the amount of money that would be affected by this decision.
According to the letter, the Greek authorities working on the case
have “already identified companies participating in the cartel as all
major constructions companies and large foreign companies present in
Greece.” The cartel was allegedly active for over 27 years from 1989, to
this year, in the domain of road construction, railroads, metro, and
concession projects. The Director-General confirms that some of these
projects “will certainly have been co-financed by EU funds”.
The technical assistance programme is the only element that will not see its funding frozen.
Further payment claims will not be processed, Deffaa writes, “unless
there is assurance on the legality and regularity of the certified
expenditure.”
[
Update: A source in the Greek Prime Minister’s
office described the document signed by the Director-General as “one of
the thousands of internal documents that circulate”, and said that high
ranking European Commission officials have reassured the Greek
government that they do not intend to “handle the matter in this way”.]
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/exclusive-european-commission-to-freeze-all-payments-to-greece/