Enterprise Estonia Calls Back €140,000 in Grants
Enterprise Estonia had to call back only 140,000 euros of the grant money it awarded last year, a sum well within the European Commission's margin of error.
An audit found that, of the 48 million euros in state development funds the agency spent over the year, 0.5 percent, or 256,000 euros, did not meet regulations. "The error rate accepted by the European Commission is 2 percent but we have set a goal not to exceed 1 percent," said Enterprise Estonia Chairman Ülari Alamets.
Based on the findings, Enterprise Estonia then decided to recall 140,000 euros from grant recipients. Alamets told uudised.err.ee that so far, around 118,000 euros have been returned to the Ministry of Finance.
According to Alamets, Enterprise Estonia makes its decisions on recalling grant money on a case-by-case basis and does not consider an organization's repayment capacity as a factor.
Last week, the ministry proposed that Enterprise Estonia recall 18.7 million euros of grant funds allocated for the restoration of the Tallinn TV Tower and another 274,040 euros from the Maritime Museum. “We will work through the proposal, talk to the beneficiaries and hopefully reach a decision within the month,” said Monica Hankov, director of Enterprise Estonia's Business Environment Division.
Ingrid Teesalu