The development regions

• Author: Catalin-Silviu Sararu
• Profession: PhD, is Associate Professor at the Law Department of Bu-charest University of Economic Studies
• Pages: 163-165

Chapter XXI

The development regions

In Romania, the institutional framework for the creation of the develop-

ment regions was regulated by Law no. 151/1998 r egarding the regiona l devel-

opment in Romania1, which was subsequently repealed and currently replaced by

Law no. 315/2004 regar ding the regional development in Romania2.

The development regions represented in the process of accession negoti-

ations with the European Union, both premised for estimating the financial allo-

cations for Romania in a system focused on objectives and geographical areas, as

well as indicators for evaluating the absorption capacity of EU funds and moni-

toring and evaluation benchmarks. of the results and the impact on the socio-

economic development on the whole of Romania3. In 2007, when Romania joined

the EU, the development regions became members of the Committee of the Re-

gions, a consultative body of the European Union.

At the level of the European Union, the main investment policy is cur-

rently represented by the regional development policy. The regional policy is ad-

dressed to all regions and cities in the European Union, supporting job creation,

business competitiveness, economic growth, sustainable development and im-

proving the quality of life. In the period 2014-2020, € 351.8 billion - about one

third of the total EU budget - was allocated for cohesion policy, in order to reach

these objectives and to meet the various needs existing in all regions of the EU.

The objectives of the regional policy are achieved through three main funds: the

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund (FC) and the

European Social Fund (ESF). Most of the cohesion policy funds are earmarked

for less developed European countries and regions, in order to support them in

order to recover and reduce the existing economic, social and territorial dispari-

ties at EU level4.

In Romania, the regional development policy is defined by art. 2(1) of

the Law no. 315/2004 as the whole of the policies developed by the Government,

through the central public administration bodies, the local public administration

authorities and the specialized regional bodies, with the consultation of the socio-

economic partners involved, in order to ensure the economic growth and the bal-

anced and sustainable social development of some geographical areas established

in development regions, to improve the international competitiveness of Romania

1 Published in the Official Gazette, Part I no. 265 of July 16, 1998, as subsequently amended.

2 Published in the Official Gazette, Part I no. 577 of June 29, 2004, as subsequently amended.

3 F or an analysis of the provisions of the first post -December law on regional development in

Romania (Law no. 151/1998) see Dana Apostol Tofan, Consideraii în legtur cu Legea privind

dezvoltarea regional în România, „Dreptul” no. 5/1999, p. 3-9.

4 For the presentation of the regional policy of the European Union see http://ec.europa.eu/

regional_policy/ro/ policy/what/investment-policy/