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The Romanian Presidency at the Council of the European Union (EU) bets on the streamlining of the programming of European funds and more flexibility, said Minister of European Funds Rovana Plumb at the bilateral meeting in Madrid with Spanish Minister of Finance Maria Jesus Montero Cuadrado.
According to a press release sent by the Ministry for European Funds to AGERPRES on Friday, the Minister of European Funds presented the perspective and priorities of the Romanian Presidency at the Council of the European Union regarding the Cohesion Policy and showed in this regard that the objective of this mandate is the continuation of negotiations in a dynamic pace, with a view to initiating the trialogue with the European Parliament.
Also, Rovana Plumb pointed out that a major concern for the Romanian Presidency is to avoid delays caused by a possible late agreement at European level.
"Therefore, she stressed that the timely adoption of the draft regulations will ensure the streamlining of the process of programming the future European money, and will also provide greater flexibility. At the meeting held in Madrid, the two ministers stressed that both Spain and Romania have as a common objective the provision of premises for a more flexible cohesion policy, and therefore more responsive to the specific needs of development and to the regional diversity of the Union. From this point of view, it has shown the importance of supporting funding from the Regional Development Fund of some sectors that ensure the sustainable development of the Union, such as tourism or European cultural heritage," reads the release.
The Romanian Minister of European Funds has initiated a series of bilateral meetings with ministers from the EU member states in order to get support for the strengthening of the Cohesion Policy, which manages the funds that EU member states need to support competitiveness and recover the development gaps at regional level.
The Romanian delegation also included Ambassador Gabriela Dancau and Calin Chira, Romania's attache to Brussels, in charge of negotiating on the Cohesion Policy file.
On Friday, Rovana Plumb has scheduled a meeting with the South Italian Regions Minister, Barbara Lezzi, in Rome.
The Cohesion Policy is a financing instrument that ensures solidarity among the member states and the European regions as a founding principle of European integration. This instrument is made up of three funds: the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Cohesion Fund (FC).
