EU suspends 1bn euros in funding for Romanian projectsMay 7, 2015 - 17:57 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Romania's Prime Minister says the European Union has suspended 1 billion euros ($1.13 billion) in funding for Romanian projects over allegations of corruption and irregularities, the Associated Press reports. Prime Minister Victor Ponta says there was "a huge problem" of complaints, which are automatically investigated by Olaf, the body that investigates EU budget fraud. Ponta said Thursday, May 7, during a meeting with foreign news agencies that "if there is a suspicion about the case, it is stopped ... and we can't ask for money from the EU." He says if there is no ruling on cases by Dec 31, projects will be funded from the budget. He says the allegations referred to human resources projects, water supply and 400 million-euro ($452 million) subway projects. Romania has recently launched a crackdown into high-level corruption. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | The Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life charity The companies inform that the May beneficiary of The Power of One Dram is the “Road of Life” charitable organization. Ucom General Director gives lecture at French University in Armenia The General Director of Ucom Ralph Yirikian delivered a lecture at the French University of Armenia. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. |