Norway to make available EUR 305 million for Romanian projects in 2009-2014

For 2009-2014, Norway will make available EUR 305 million, representing the financial allocation to Romania for 2009-2014. The first call for projects is expected in 2012, after the agreement with the Romanian Ministry of Finance has been signed, by the end of 2011. At the press conference, Anne Lise Rognlidalen, country director for Bulgaria and Romania at Innovation Norway and HE Oystein Hovdkinn (in picture), Norway’s ambassador in Romania and the Republic of Moldova.

The first stage of the project developed by the Norway Grants program in Romania between 2007 and 2009 has made available EUR 48 million worth of non-refundable financial assistance in four sectors, in the benefit of Norwegian-Romanian partnerships among public, private and non-governmental entities. Grants were awarded to 29 projects, in the following sectors: sustainable production (14 projects – EUR 21,905,151), environment (7 projects, EUR 8,209,500, health (5 projects, EUR 7,899,450) and energy efficiency (3 projects, EUR 4,210,000).

However, as Rognlidalen explained, the 2009-2014 grants offered by innovation Norway will not be exclusively directed at the fields mentioned above. It is yet certain that 25 percent of the funds will be directed at environmental and climate efforts, while local NGOs will receive a minimum EUR 20 million.

When asked to make a comparison between Romania and other beneficiaries of the Innovation Norway program, the Norwegian ambassador stated that Romania supported a very good absorption of funds, of around 80-90 percent, compared to the 10-15 percent absorption occurred in the case of EU funds. A representative from one of the beneficiaries of the 2007-2009 project, the atmospheric science center in Magurele, RADOR, stated that the accession to the Norwegian funds was easier than the more bureaucratic case of PHARE fu nds.

Currently, Norway is the largest bilateral fund donor for Romania, as Hovdkinn emphasized during the press conference.

Innovation Norway is a Norwegian state-owned company that manages the Norway Grants program in consultation with the National Focal Point of Romania (the Authority for the Co-ordination of Structural Instruments in the Ministry of Public Finance).

Norway Grants represents a bilateral cooperation program deriving from the provisions of the European Economic Area (EEA) Enlargement Agreement to which Romania became a signatory part in 2007. The Agreement lays down the rules for co-operation between the EU, on the one hand, and Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland, on the other hand. The Agreement makes it possible for a non-EU country like Norway to participate in Internal Market, while contributing financially to regional cohesion via programs such as Norway Grants.