THE "EUROPEAN FUNDS" CONFERENCE - 6TH EDITION / ANGHELUŢĂ VĂDINEANU, THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR DURABLE DEVELOPMENT: "The absorption system needs to be restructured and perfected"

The current system for the absorption of European funds can not guarantee the increase of their usage level and their efficiency in the 2014-2020 period, meaning that it needs to be restructured and perfected, according to Angheluţă Vădineanu, the president of the National Center for Durable Development.

Under these circumstances, the reform of the system for the absorption of European funds is a real problem, Vădineanu thinks.

The rate of absorption that we will achieve for the money allocated in the 2007-2013 period could be a reason to be somewhat proud, but in that regard, Romania still has a long road ahead of it, Mr. Vădineanu considers.

In his opinion, there is a tight correlation between the need to reform the development system and creating the sustainability conditions.

"Durable development is the general objective of all the policies and programs of the EU and therefore, of the member states. I think what is important is to say what should be done to eliminate the hurdles that currently exist, from an operational point of view, for adapting some laws, etc., so that both the consultants and the beneficiaries know what to do in the process of accessing the European funds", Mr. Vădineanu said, and added that we cannot think of the future without looking at the natural capital, namely biodiversity.

The European funds available in the 2007-2013 multi-annual financial framework did not contribute to the necessary degree to limiting the effects of the world's global recession on Romania's economy and stimulating the economic growth, according to Mr. Vădineanu, who said that the circumstances for an unsustainable development of the national social-economic system persist.