Source: Ministry of Public Works, Development and Administration – https://www.mlpda.ro/subarticles/5/mlpdapor20142020580milioaneieuro20202021immuriaxaprioritara2

The Government of Romania approved, in the meeting on Wednesday, July 22, at the request of the Ministry of Public Works, Development and Administration (MLPDA), a memorandum regarding the provision of the necessary financing for the contracting of projects submitted under the Regional Operational Program (POR) 2014-2020, Priority Axis 2 – Improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises for financing applications whose total non-refundable value exceeds the value of the financial allocation.

In this sense, the measures proposed for the contracting of projects submitted within the calls dedicated to the business environment in Priority Axis 2 aim at:

• supplementing, with 130 million euros, the financial allocation of the call dedicated to micro-enterprises (with project values up to 200,000 euros), for the financing of all projects submitted, which meet the eligibility criteria and evaluated, with a view to contracting;
• supplementing, with 450 million euros, the financial allocation of the call dedicated to SMEs (with project values between 200,000 and 1,000,000 euros);
• ensuring a financial allocation of 550 million euros for launching the call for projects dedicated to SMEs, for projects with values between 1,500,000 and 6,000,000 euros.

These financial allocations are proposed as a result of the European Commission Communication no. 4355 regarding the extension of the application and amendments to the Guidelines on state aid, which extends the applicability of the "de minimis" regulations until December 30, 2023, and for "regional" aid - until December 30, 2021, under the conditions of the current aid intensity map Of the state.

Thus, in order to continue the process of contracting the funding requests submitted under Priority Axis 2 of the 2014-2020 ROP, whose total non-refundable value exceeds the amount of the financial allocation, the allocation, from the state budget or the transfer from other operational programs, was requested. a minimum of 580 million euros for the years 2020 and 2021, in accordance with European legislation.

The subsequent addition, corresponding to the years 2022 and 2023, of these values, with 550 million euros, will be possible starting from 2022, depending on a new proposal for the regional aid intensity map and possible changes to the applicable aid regulations:

• the call dedicated to SMEs (with project values between 200,000 and 1,000,000 euros) with 300 million euros;
• the call dedicated to SMEs (for projects with values between 2,000,000 and 6,000,000 euros) with 250 million euros.

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The financial allocation of Priority Axis 2 – Improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises is currently 1.39 billion euros (of which 1.18 billion euros ERDF); the financial allocation for Priority Axis 2 was supplemented several times during the implementation of the ROP (at the time of the ROP approval, the allocation was 859.24 million euros, of which 730.85 million euros ERDF). 

Within this axis, the following are financed:

Specific objective 2.1 – dedicated to supporting micro-enterprises through:

• micro
• business incubators

Specific objective 2.2 – dedicated to supporting SMEs through:

• SMEs
• financial instrument of the equity fund type - implemented through the European Investment Fund

To date, payments have been made to the beneficiaries of the contracts, in the amount of 654.29 million euros (of which 556.56 million euros ERDF).