The Minister of European Funds, Marcel Boloș, had a meeting yesterday with the representatives of the Regional Development Agencies (ADR) to establish several aspects related to the preparation of the future programming period (2021-2027). The MFE state secretaries Carmen Moraru and Adrian Mariciuc also participated in the meeting, as well as experts from the ministry.
The Minister of European Funds made a brief summary of the most important decisions regarding the preparation of the 2021-2027 period: "In the Government meeting last Thursday, the institutional architecture for the Operational Programs related to the future programming period 2021-2027 was approved. The establishment of the 8 regional management authorities was approved. Future steps concern ensuring the legal framework so that the functions of the Management Authorities are exercised as is legal. We are currently talking with the European Commission."
In the first part of the meeting, the institutional architecture for the period 2021-2027 was presented:
- Transport Operational Program (Management Authority coordinated by the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Communications);
- Sustainable Development Operational Program (Management Authority coordinated by MFE);
- Intelligent Growth and Digitization Operational Program (Management Authority coordinated by MFE);
- Human Capital Operational Program (Management Authority coordinated by MFE)
- Operational Program Social Inclusion and Integrated Territorial Development (Management Authority coordinated by MFE);
- Regional Operational Program (ADRs will perform the function of Management Authorities, under the coordination of the Ministry of Public Works, Development and Administration);
- Technical Assistance Operational Program (Management Authority coordinated by MFE);
- Operational Program Fair Transition (Management Authority coordinated by MFE);
- Territorial Cooperation Program (Management Authorities coordinated by the Ministry of Public Works, Development and Administration).
At the same time, it was mentioned that the new Regional Operational Programs will have a greater correlation with the Intelligence Growth and Digitization Operational Program.
ADR representatives were interested in the vision of the Health Operational Program, but also how the transition to a fair economy will be made.
Minister Marcel Boloș stated that it has two major components: "The first one is of national interest - the construction of regional hospitals, and the second one is of local interest - local authorities will be involved. The financing of this program will be a multi-fund one and will contribute in several directions such as infrastructure development, investment in human resources, research and digitization."
Regarding the transition to a fair economy, the MFE official stated that an example is the Jiului Valley where funds will be allocated for three directions: the closure of mining operations, the re-conversion and professional retraining of those affected by mine closure measures, but also investments in the business area so that the local population can benefit from jobs.
Moreover, the MFE experts discussed the allocation of funds for the purpose of reducing pollution.
On the other hand, Ms. Carmen Moraru, MFE State Secretary, addressed the issue of the transition fund and specified that in the next period there will be negotiations on this topic within the Council of the European Union: "We must ensure that Romania will have a position regarding this transition fund . Only in this way will we ensure that we have greater negotiating power and that Romania will achieve the results it proposes at the country level." He asked the representatives of ADR to convey points of view in order to have a unified position on this topic.
The second item on the agenda of the meeting was to discuss the status of the documents and establish an indicative calendar for the future.
MFE State Secretary Adrian Mariciuc stated that every intervention within the operational programs must be justified, referring to the Regional Development Plan and the Smart Development Strategy. It asked Agency representatives to provide views so that they could be centralized and included in the justifications for future changes.
During the meeting, it was decided that the first proposals for regional operational programs would be finalized in mid-April. The need for them to be complementary to national programs was also emphasized.
At the same time, several technical discussions took place during the meeting on the topic of the five investment objectives of the next multi-year financial year, namely:
- A smarter Europe - approx. 6 billion euros
- A greener Europe - approx. 7 billion euros
- A more connected Europe - approx. 4 billion euros
- A more social Europe - approx. 10 billion euros
- A Europe closer to its citizens - approx. 0.6 billion euros.
A new working meeting with ADR representatives will take place at the end of March
Source: http://mfe.gov.ro/