The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, has reimbursed EUR 15 billion worth of EU funds to Romania between 2007 and 2013, helping create over 8,800 jobs, said Monday Angela Filote, head of the EC Representation in Romania, reports Agerpres newswire.
She said the absorption of EU funds was driven by the agriculture and rural development sectors, where Romania “fares very well”. Overall, the country has EUR 33 billion in EU money available for the 2007-2013. The allocation has been hiked to EUR 39 billion in the next 7-year budget.
According to Filote, over 1,200 SMEs have used EU money and more than 1,000 km of roads were upgraded with European financing.
“These are the figures by the end of 2013. Only at the end of 2015 the current financial exercise will be closed and we will know exactly how much we have taken out from the overall allotted budget,” said Filote.
The EC has extended the n+3 rule for Romania and Slovakia under the 2007-2013 financial framework, meaning these EU members will be able to use more EU money and reduce the risk of losing funds.
The EC Representation in Romania together with the Structural Consulting Group have launched a series of conferences designed to promote success stories in the absorption of EU funds. The events will be organized across Romania this year.
Ovidiu Posirca