Romania has submitted projects worth 55 billion euros, which will be funded through the 2021–2027 Cohesion Policy

The Minister of Investments and European Projects, Adrian Câciu, stated on Tuesday, “The value of the projects funded by the 2021–2027 Cohesion Policy submitted by Romania is 55 billion euros.”

“I would first start with the closure of the 2014-2020 financial period. It is closing with an absorption rate of 98% at this moment, but with what we have at the Commission, we are at 100%. We still have about 2 billion euros at the Commission, of which we are entitled to receive only 700 million. That was Romania’s envelope. Practically, it is for the first time that Romania managed to take all the money from the European Commission, all the funds allocated. The new financial period makes available 46 billion euros under the Cohesion Policy for Romania’s development. A year ago, we had neither a single euro in the accounts nor from the perspective of submitted projects or signed contracts. Today, as we speak, the submitted projects amount to 55 billion euros. Note that we have an envelope of 46 billion euros and the value of the submitted projects is 55 billion euros. We have already contracted 15.5 billion euros and have 11 billion euros in the process of being contracted,” said Adrian Câciu at the “Upgrade Romania: Impact of Major Investments of 2024” conference.

He mentioned that the Ministry aims to have 25 billion euros already contracted from the Cohesion Policy by the end of September and between 35-40 billion euros contracted by the end of the year.

“We are in the third year of implementing the Cohesion Policy, this year being 2024. In the previous financial period, in the third year of implementation, which was 2016, Romania had contracts worth only 1.5 billion euros. Practically, at this moment, we are ten times better in terms of contracting levels. It is very important to contract as quickly as possible to have what to implement, to realize those investments because people are tired of always hearing ‘we will make investments.’ People want to see objectives already achieved,” emphasized the minister.

He also specified that regarding the PNRR, Romania has 28.5 billion euros available, but currently has contracts worth 36 billion euros.