Radio România Internațional

Tag: absorption rate

  • Structural and cohesion funds for Romania

    Structural and cohesion funds for Romania

    Romania has collected 1.9 billion Euros from the structural and cohesion funds financed in the financial year 2021-2027, the Minister of Investments and European Projects, Adrian Câciu, announced at the end of last week in a Facebook post. According to him, the general absorption rate, of 6.11%, places Romania in line with the European Union average, which is 6.19%. Things are even better for the programs managed centrally by the Ministry of Investments and European Projects and the Ministry of Transport, where the absorption rate of structural and cohesion funds stands at 7.3%.

     

    In the last few days alone, more than 650 million Euros have been collected from the structural and cohesion funds related to the 2021-2027 financial year, and reimbursements from the European Commission continue at the pace we predicted, considering that Romania has signed contracts worth over 31 billion Euros, Adrian Câciu wrote. However, he pointed out that Romania still has to catch up on the Regional Programs, where the absorption rate is only 3.2%. Adrian Câciu said he was convinced that the model that the current coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL) has set in terms of managing and implementing European funds, including their decentralization, will be continued by the future governing coalition, and the rate of absorption of European funds will be sustained so as to repeat the success of European money absorption from the 2014-2020 financial year.

     

    On the other hand, the former European Commissioner Corina Creţu claims that there is no locality in Romania that has not benefited from European funds, a fact that is due to Romania’s EU membership. The statement comes as if to give a reply to the tireless detractors of the European Union, including those in the new Parliament, who, under the name of sovereigntists, hardly hide their anti-Western sentiment. In 2023, Romania was on first place in terms of funds received, related to the population, Corina Creţu stated, citing a Euronews analysis. The former Commissioner for Regional Policy recalls that, since joining the European Union in 2007, Romania has received over 95 billion Euros worth of non-reimbursable funds, for a contribution of less than 30 billion Euros. Among the major projects that have benefited from European funds are several large regional hospitals, the Transport Master Plan, highway sectors, railway rehabilitation, the metro line that will connect Otopeni, the largest airport in the country, to the North Railway Station and, last but not least, the suspension bridge over the Danube from Brăila, the third largest in Europe and one of the most important infrastructure projects in Romania, in the last 30 years. (LS)

  • December 14, 2024 UPDATE

    December 14, 2024 UPDATE

     

    NEGOTIATIONS In Bucharest, negotiations on a future coalition of the pro-European parties in Parliament have made progress with respect to the structure of the new government. The Social Democratic Party will control 7 ministries, the National Liberal Party 4, Save Romania Union 3, and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania 2, said the Social Democrats’ senior vice-president Sorin Grindeanu. It has not yet been decided which ministries will go to each party and the names of the new ministers. On the other hand, the Social Democrats and and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians plead for a single presidential candidate of the coalition. After the Constitutional Court cancelled the election for president, the future executive will have to decide by the end of the year on a new presidential election calendar, the UDMR believes. The pro-European parties elected in Parliament hope to come up with a cabinet by Christmas.

     

    EU FUNDING Romania collected EUR 1.9 billion in EU structural and cohesion funds in 2021-2027, and the overall absorption rate, 6.11%, is close to the EU average of 6.19%, the minister of investments and European projects, Adrian Câciu announced. The absorption rate for the structural and cohesion funds under centrally managed programmes is higher, namely 7.3%, Caciu said in a Facebook post. He emphasised that Romania is yet to to catch up on Regional Programmes, where the absorption rate is 3.2%, but he voiced confidence that the example set by the current coalition comprising the Social Democrats and the Liberals in terms of management and implementation of European funds, including decentralisation, will be followed by the new government, and the pace of EU fund absorption will be sustained, so as to replicate the success of the 2014-2020 period.

    PARLIAMENT On Monday the last week of work for the current legislature begins, with many bills still unfinished for Romanian Senators and Deputies. Until the new Parliament is convened, the Chamber of Deputies should adopt the new Forestry Code, which has been on the agenda for several months. The code is a benchmark in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and a priority for the Government, which says the document must be adopted by the end of the year. The bill provides, among other things, for the seizing of vehicles carrying stolen wood, for green belts around major cities, for preemptive rights and reasonably priced quality materials for local furniture manufacturers, for video monitoring of forest roads, and bans clear-cutting in all protected areas. Meanwhile, the Senate is expected to vote on a bill punishing holders of multiple positions financed from the state budget and on another one limiting to two the number of terms in office for the heads of the secret services. The current MPs remain in office until December 20, when the first session of the new Parliament is scheduled, following the December 1 general elections.

     

    ECONOMY Romania’s trade deficit was EUR 5.5 billion higher in the first 10 months of the year than in the same period in 2023, according to data made public by the National Bank. More than half of this deficit is the result of growing imports of goods. The central bank also says that the total foreign debt went up over EUR 18 billion and exceeded EUR 186 billion. According to analysts, along with the very high budget deficit, these are the main problems of the Romanian economy, and they must be solved concurrently, which is very difficult. They believe that through a correct budget adjustment, expenses would be cut, and revenues could be raised by eliminating corruption and through a fair tax system.

     

    ANNIVERSARY Timişoara marks 35 years since the anti-communist Revolution of December 1989, which broke out in this city in western Romania. Under the motto “35 years of freedom”, events dedicated to the 1989 heroes and celebrating the three and a half decades since Timişoara became the first city free from communism in Romania will take place between December 15 and 20. The agenda includes, as every year, religious services, wreath-laying, exhibitions and film screenings. A concert entitled Requiem in Memoriam is scheduled on Sunday at the Banat Philharmonic, Monday will see the inauguration of the Freedom Portal, a light installation that reproduces sounds from the Revolution, followed by the traditional march “Heroes Never Die”. Tuesday will be a day of mourning, and the events on December 20 will end with a concert called “Rock for revolution”. (AMP)

  • Average Absorption of European funds

    Average Absorption of European funds

    On Monday, during a formal visit to her native Romania, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu launched the second campaign aimed at promoting successful European projects. Thanks to such projects, more than 50,000 jobs have been created in the past 10 years, and many schools and roads have been refurbished and built. However, Corina Cretu pointed out that the money used for those projects were part of the previous multiannual financial framework. European Commissioner Corina Cretu:



    “For the 2007-2014 period, Romania had 19 billion to spend. It lost 2 billion; we are still waiting for the estimates of the Audit Court. According to our estimates, the absorption rate will stand somewhere between 90-91%, unless other big financial corrections are operated. The Commission has a few months to analyze the tons of invoices that were sent to us until March 2017, which was the deadline for submittal. But this is the estimate. It means that 17 billion entered Romania’s real economy, accounting for 5% of GDP”.



    As the title of this new promotion campaign is ‘Success is catchy’, the European official hopes that Romania will benefit from such success stories and properly use the money earmarked under the current financial framework, especially considering that today, when half of the period has already passed, the absorption rate is 0. Brussels has funds, but it expects quality, mature projects, which can be implemented right away.



    Therefore, the year 2017 is crucial for Romania with regard to attracting EU money. The invoices issued so far cover only 77% of the total amount allocated, which is the poorest performance in the whole of the EU. For the 2007-2014 period, 1 of the 2 billion Euros lost because of poor absorption were from transportation, and for the 2014-2020 programming period, the flagship project, namely the Sibiu-Pitesti motorway, which should cross the Southern Carpathians, has not managed to pass the feasibility study stage.



    As regards the issues Romania is faced with when it comes to absorbing European money, the European Commissioner said that the main problems are the lack of administrative capacity and also the lack of good projects. Corina Cretu also said that Romania is the only European country that still submits hundreds of pages long projects, although Brussels encourages the submittal of such projects in an electronic format. Moreover, she voiced her disappointment that young people no longer try to access European funds, saying that the procedures are much too complicated. (Translated by M. Ignatescu)

  • Romania and European Funds

    Romania and European Funds

    Romania has a historic opportunity to get involved in the process of re-launching the European Union, which has been affected by Brexit and the rise of nationalist movements, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Creţu has told Radio Romania. She urged the authorities to act in such a way as to get Romania significantly involved in the reform process recently launched by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, who also presented 5 scenarios regarding the future of the Union. On the other hand, Corina Creţu has again drawn attention to the importance of attracting and using European funds. Corina Creţu:



    “After EU accession, Romania had billions of euros at its disposal. We do want to make things better, but quite often we are tempted to talk about failures. Nevertheless more than 8,000 jobs have been created, and hundreds of schools, hospital units and hospitals were refurbished in the previous financial year. We are not faring equally well in the field of transports, because only 124 kms of highway have been built with European funds. Still we have managed to build 900 national roads. In this financial year we have over 23 million euros made available from the European Fund for Regional Development, we have cohesion funds, that should be used in strategic domains to modernize society, such as transports, small and medium sized enterprises, competitiveness, research and waste management infrastructure.”



    Commissioner Creţu recalled that the three regional hospitals will be built from European funds in Cluj (central), Iasi (northeast) and Craiova (southwest). The locations have been set already and the European Investment Bank will draft feasibility studies in the coming period. Corina Creţu:



    “I hope that by early 2018, at the latest, we will start the actual construction of the three regional hospitals in order to be able to spend the money by 2020. Such infrastructure projects cannot be built overnight. Therefore, we need at least several years to build these hospitals.”



    According to Corina Creţu, Romania has at its disposal further European funds to modernize another 280 hospitals across Romania. She has again called on the Romanian authorities to attract community funds, especially now when the states with powerful economies are asking for a cut in the aid granted to less developed countries. In the period 2007-2013 Romania lost two billion euros worth of EU funds, although the framework was extended by more than 3 years and is coming to a close this month. The European Commissioner added that they managed to save more than a billion euros through backdated projects, and several projects with big delays were saved through the phasing out procedure. These projects will be accomplished with the help of funds allotted for the 2013-2020 period. (Translated by L. Simion)