The Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the program co-financed by the European Union (EU), claims that the current model of administration is not efficient due to an intermediate link that prolongs the payment of money, thus causing damage to small projects.
"Small organizations had to wait for funds for about a year. In our opinion, this is too long, consequently we are proposing to simplify the procedure and scrap the intermediate role," Deimantė Jankūnaitė, head of the Territorial Cooperation Program Division of the ministry's Regional Policy Department, told BNS.
According to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland disagrees with Lithuanian proposals, saying the bid entails revision of the key documents, which will require approval of the European Commission (EC), which is a long process. Poland also noted problems related to the long distance from Elk and Lomza, cities in Poland entitled the funds, from Vilnius.
The document of the Lithuanian-Polish cross-border cooperation, which has been approved by the European Commission, envisages a possibility to provide funding for small projects of up to 100,000 euros. Small projects include projects that do not involve major investments and infrastructure work, i.e., joint exhibitions, events, preparation of border routes or training of specialists.
Some 7.59 million euros were envisaged for the first phase, with merely 80 percent used.
