Romania is the most successful country in terms of convergence with the European Union, and in terms of the speed of catching up, we are far ahead of Poland or other states in the region, Romania's Minister of Investments and European Funds Dragos Pislaru said on Wednesday at the regional conference "The Economist Romania Government Roundtable".
"I would like to highlight the fact that the best proof of the fact that the European money is really meaningful for Romania's development is to look at figures. In 2007, Romania was 44% of the European Union average purchasing power stand. Today we are at 80%. If we leave Ireland aside, because they have the U.S. assets and, in fact, because of that, Romania is the most successful country in terms of convergence GDP wise. You may talk about polarization, but Romania is the textbook example of how, by using European funds - more than EUR 108 billion received - we've really managed the impossible: 44 to 80 [GDP/capita at purchasing power parity compared to the EU average]. And it is very important to understand that, in terms of speed and catching up, we are far, beyond Poland and the others in the area. This is really relevant to prove the fact that while you use EU funds you can actually get this kind of results," said Pislaru.
According to him, after joining the Union, Romania was a little bit more relaxed and relied heavily on the consumption-led model of growth model. Consumption helped a lot the growth that happened, but this pattern was not without imbalances.
"But the whole point is that right now we are in a very crucial moment of shifting the economic model. We shift from consumption to investment. And where we are right now, we are on investment that relies primarily on public investment. This is shown in the fact that we are finally finalising the highways, finally finalising the railway system, finally modernising the sewerage water system. These things are happening right now. This is living proof that do deal with basic infrastructure," said Pislaru.
He mentioned that in the future Romania will shift from focusing more on public investment to focusing on leveraging private investment.
"The whole point is how to shift from a reality where you get one euro and then you spend one euro, and then 80% goes to the public sector and only 20% to the private sector, to a reality where at least one third, if not more, is actually done by the private sector leveraging on that."
According to the minister, Romania is number eight in terms of EU payments and number two in terms of amounts .
"We have already spent EUR 9 billion in cohesion funds, which is really amazing. So, right now cohesion is going well, and in 2027-2034 we have this particular perspective that is so important for predictability and for the future. The whole point is that the Government, and especially my ministry, is becoming more and more a partner of the financial institution of leveraging the multiplication of investments," said Pislaru.
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