Romania has almost reached the European Union average in terms of absorption of funds for the period 2017-2018. The € 8 billion that have been received were turned into investments that benefit millions of Romanians, local authorities and the business environment, Romanian Minister for European Funds, Rovana Plumb, said at the Victoria Palace.

RRA Reporter Petruța Obrejan: EU fund absorption remains a priority objective for Romania during its six-month Presidency of the EU Council. We will do our best to ensure that, through the policies that Romania will promote during its EU Presidency, all Member States, Romania included, will have a sustainable and long-term development, Minister for EU Funds stated. "During the rotating EU Council Presidency, Romanian Ministry of European Funds will manage the Cohesion package - legislative framework for absorption of European funds after 2020", Rovana Plumb also said.

Rovana Plumb: "We will make sure that this Cohesion package will be accelerated in order to provide the necessary money for the development and good standard of living for each European citizen. Our mandate is to be a consensus facilitator, but we have the ambition to move forward with this Cohesion package, with the support of the other Member States".

Romania benefits, in the European Commission's proposal, an allocation of € 31 billion for the Cohesion policy for 2021-2027, with 8% more than 2014-2020 - says European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Crețu. As Commissioner Crețu wrote on a social network, the Commission has submitted to the European Parliament the highest proposed allocation for the Cohesion Policy so far - a total of 373 billion euros for the entire European Union, for the post-2020 period. EU Commissioner for Regional Policy hopes that the budget will be allocated during the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council, so that money can be used by Member States as of 1 January 2021 for quality projects that reduce gaps and inequalities between Member States and improve the quality of Europeans’ lives.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei