National and European integrity institutions will be able to analyse data on EU-funded projects without intermediaries in order to prevent and sanction potential fraud, the Minister of European Investments and Projects, Dragos Pislaru, said on Monday.

'It's official: I have signed cooperation protocols with the European Public Prosecutor's Office, the National Anti-Corruption Directorate [DNA] and the Anti-Fraud Department, granting these institutions direct and full access to the MySMIS database containing EU-funded projects managed by the ministry I lead. Any suspicion of fraud or irregularity in a project financed with European funds can now be investigated without delay or bureaucratic slowdown. Investigators will have access to the full trail of funds, from contracting to the final payment. This means faster, better-substantiated investigations and, above all, stronger control over public money,' Pislaru wrote in a Facebook post.

According to the minister, MySMIS is the system that contains all relevant data on cohesion projects financed from European funds, including beneficiaries, contracts, payments, indicators and implementation status.

'From now on, prosecutors and control bodies will be able to see in real time what is happening with these projects, without intermediaries, without delays and without administrative opacity. European funds are public money, and every euro stolen or misused means fewer hospitals, fewer schools and less infrastructure for people. Those who work honestly will continue to have the support of the state; those who attempt to steal will face a state that cooperates closely with national and European integrity institutions. As minister, I am interested not only in how much money we absorb, but also in how we use it. That is why I insisted that MIPE [the Ministry of European Investments and Projects] fully open its data to the institutions tasked with investigating fraud involving EU funds: the EPPO, the DNA and DLAF,' Pislaru added.

The minister stressed that this is the direction he intends to further consolidate, by increasing transparency, strengthening controls where necessary and applying a policy of 'zero tolerance for any attempt to defraud European funds'. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Nicoleta Banciulea; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)