The European Regional Development Fund and romanian transportation sector

• Author: Erika Georgeta Kuciel
• Pages: 157-164

The European Citizen and Public Administration

157

The European Regional Development Fund and Romanian

Transportation Sector

Erika Georgeta Kuciel1

Abstract: Romania, as a Member State of the European Union since 2007, receive financial assistance

through EU structural instruments. The goal of regional development policy is to reduce disparities in the

level of wealth, income between different regions and Member States of the European Union. In our country,

there are 8 development regions that receive non-refundable financial assistance through the European

Regional Development Fund. The aim of this paper is to present a comparative situation of the projects

financed by ERDF, related to the p eriod of financial programming 2007-2013, in two different development

regions of Romania: North-West and Central. The objective of this article is to analyze the ongoing and

implemented projects in transportation sector for the programming period 2007-2013, through ERDF, for the

two development regions. The concepts used in this article are the regional policy of the EU, structural funds.

The approach is based on several scientific research. According to Iain Begg, the structural funds aim to

promote economic development by stimulating growth rate of disadvantaged regions, public investment in

infrastructure, training, productivity of businesses in the region. The paper is based on theoretical

documentation regarding the structural funds, the concept of the European regional policy, the absorption

rate. The main methods employed were the observation, the specialized literature and publications. The

conclusion of this study is th at the North-West region has managed to attract more European funds through

the European Regional Development Fund in the period 2007-2013 for the rehabilitation of streets, county

and national roads. The case study can be used in university as a frame o f reference in order to compare one

of the two analyzed regions with other development regions. Although the North-West region had an

absorption rate higher than th e Central, through ERDF, in the North-West were upgraded seven county roads

while in the Central region they were eight.

Keywords: regional development; region; regional policy; structural funds.

1. Introduction and Theoretical Framework

This article aims to present the comparative situation between 2 Romanian development regions

receiving financial assistance through European Regional Development Fund, during the

programming period 2007-2013, using the Regional Operational Programme. This case study is based

only on the projects of the rehabilitation/modernization county roads in the regions mentioned above.

During the period 2000-2006, Romania, as a candidate country to the European Union, has received

non-repayable financial assistance through pre-accession instruments such ISPA, PHARE and

SAPARD; once became a Member State in 2007 on January 1, receive Community support in the

form of grants post-accession called Structural Instruments. The origins of these EU funds are in the

Treaty of Rome in whose preamble is determined commitment of Member States to „ensure their

1PhD, National University of Political Studies and Public Ad ministration (SNSPA) - Faculty of Public Administration,

Address: Address: 6 P overnei Str., Bucharest, Romania, Tel.: +4 0372249786; 0721.492.355, fax: +40372.249.784,

Corresponding author: ekuciel@yahoo.com.