Brussels, 27/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 26 February, within a month of Romania's accession to the EU, Romanian European Integration Minister Anca Daniela Boagiu and her colleague at Public Finance Sebastian Vladescu submitted their country's National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) for the period 2007-2013, and their Operational Programmes (OPs) to Danuta Hübner. In their NSRF, the Romanian authorities set out their priorities for the new programming period, and their OPs detail how money will be allocated to specific priorities.
The Regional Operational Programme has been allocated about €3.7 billion out of a total allocation to Romania, under the Convergence Objective, of €19.2 billion. The money will be invested through Regional Development Agencies in each of the eight development regions of Romania on improving transport links and social infrastructure, creating a better environment for innovation and business, especially small and micro-enterprises, promoting regional tourism and supporting integrated sustainable development plans for cities.
During their meeting, the Commissioner noted that the new cohesion policy amounted to the biggest investment in the economic and social modernisation in the history of the EU. She pointed out that there would be a lot of hard work in the coming months to make sure that the new resources which are now becoming available will make a real difference for the citizen and the regions (see inter alia EUROPE 9368 and 9358). (gb)