Romania gets EUR 1.53 bln to increase competitiveness and for the effective implementation of EU funds

The European Commission adopted at the end of last week the first two 2014-2020 operational programs for Romania, focused on increasing competitiveness and technical assistance in implementing EU funds. The total value of the two programs is EUR 1.53 billion. The Operational Programme ‘Technical Assistance’, worth EUR 251 million, was adopted on Thursday, December 18, to strengthen Romania’s administrative capacity to coordinate, undertake and supervise the European Structural and Investment Funds. The second programme, namely the Operational Programme for Competitiveness, was adopted on Friday, December 19. This programme, worth some EUR 1.5 billion, aims to increase the country’s economic competitiveness. “The fast adoption of these programmes is a strong signal of support that the Commission sends to Romania. The Technical Assistance Programme comes to support the government’s efforts to increase the rate of absorption of EU funds, while the Competitiveness Programme aims to stimulate the innovation that meets the needs of the real economy,” said Corina Cretu, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy. Both programmes will be coordinated by the Ministry of European Funds. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com