Romania to get EU funds worth EUR 4 bln for phased projects

Romania will get European funds worth EUR 4 billion this month for the phased projects that were launched last year, European Funds Minister Aura Raducu said in a press conference. The money will be used for projects targeting large infrastructure, roads, environment, research & innovation, and the competitiveness programme launched in 2015, reports local Agerpres. The phased projects are projects for which EU financing has been approved from the 2007-2013 funds allocation but haven't been finalized in due time (by December 31, 2015). The Romanian authorities thus decided to split these projects into several phases in order to get EU funds from the 2007-2013 allocation at least for the finalized parts. The remaining phases will be financed with funds from the new 2014-2020 allocation. To support the local authorities in getting the EU funds for these phased projects, a protocol will be signed this week with the regional development agencies. According to this protocol, there will be two or three experts in every county to help the local authorities in attracting EU funds. The Romanian authorities also plan to simply the guides, to harmonize the activity of various management authorities, and to make standard models for guides, contracts and statements. Romania could attract EU funds retrospectively International institutions help Romania with EU funds absorption Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com