World Bank: Romania's paperwork for 2014-2020 EU funding should not copy-paste EU policies

Romania's needed documentation to access EU funding between 2014 and 2020 should take into account the low competitiveness of the local economy, avoiding the 2006 mistake of copy-pasting public policies from the EU, said Arabela Aprahamian, country director for Romania within the World Bank.

Romania has one year left to prepare the documents to get more EU funding, and should learn from its past mistakes, as the previous set of documents were not well substantiated, she went on. Local problems and the lessons learn during this period should be reflected in the new set of documents Romania will have to draft. “It is the most serious problem, because these studies could help us learn where we are and consequently what should be done next. Of course Romania's main objective is to increase its GDP, with or without Eu funding. But it is an opportunity not to be overlooked. To substantiate public documents you need to know your problem and propose adequate policies and instruments,” Aprahamian explained. Earlier this year, Johannes Hahn, EU’s Commissioner for Regional Policy said Romania would have to attract EUR 30 million in European funds every week until the end of this year, to make sure it will get the same level of structural funds from 2014 to 2020. After using EUR 1.2 billion in EU funding so far- a 6.3 percent percent absorption rate of structural and cohesion funds, Romania targets minimum 20 percent real absorption rate for EU funds. editor@romania-insider.com