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Rama removed Frida Krifca after the scandal of the suspension of funds from the EU

2023-09-04 20:35:00, Politikë CNA
Rama removed Frida Krifca after the scandal of the suspension of funds from the
Frida Krifca

Prime Minister Edi Rama announced today the changes in the government cabinet, announced several weeks ago. Frida Krifca is among the ministers who left.

Frida Krifca was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in September 2021.

She was fired by Prime Minister Edi Rama just weeks after the EU suspended funding for agriculture.

The news at the time was confirmed by the EU delegation in Albania, which said that the European Commission had suspended reimbursements to the Albanian authorities for the expenses incurred within the IPARD II program.

This measure came as a result of corruption investigations related to the implementation of the IPARD II program in Albania.

" The European Commission has informed the Albanian government that it has taken precautionary measures based on initial information provided by the European Anti-Fraud Office [OLAF], following an investigation into allegations of corruption related to the implementation of the IPARD II programme.

As a preventive measure for the protection of the financial interests of the European Union, the European Commission has temporarily suspended the reimbursements to the Albanian authorities for the expenses incurred within the IPARD II program.

The European Commission cannot comment on any possible findings of OLAF regarding the implementation of the IPARD II program (2014-2020) in Albania. OLAF's investigation continues.

When OLAF submits the final report, the European Commission will inform the Albanian authorities and, based on the findings of the report, will take any further measures necessary to protect the financial interests of the European Union," the EU delegation announced on July 19 . .

The Ministry of Agriculture reacted quickly and said that the support program was not interrupted, but only an actual reimbursement invoice from DG AGRI for part of the next expenses was suspended. The ministry even described this process as completely administrative.

" Albanian authorities have been informed of a suspension of the current reimbursement invoice from DG AGRI for part of the next expenses. This is a completely administrative process that allows the re-verification of the control systems by the accredited structures which will take the necessary measures in order to continue the normal reimbursement from the EU. These are normal procedures of the European Union in the conditions when there is a need to verify expenses suspected of activity not conforming to the established rules ", declared the ministry.

Krifca himself tried to justify himself in Parliament by saying that similar irregularities or misuse of IPARD funds have also been found in countries such as Germany, France or the Netherlands.

" Out of the 27 countries of the European Union, only two of them have had no irregularities or waste of funds, if you will. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and I am only taking developed countries, they are just some of the countries where various problems have been found and each of these countries has been forced to reimburse the funds to the Commission", she said .

But Krifca was denied by the European Commission through a spokesperson.

" There have been no similar cases ," the response reads, emphasizing that the suspension is a preventive measure to protect the financial interest of the EU, while the OLAF investigation continues.

It is not confirmed if this was the reason for the dismissal of the Minister of Agriculture, but the fact is that the scandal of the suspension of EU funds due to corruption caused concern and numerous reactions./ CNA





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