THE "STRATEGIES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMES" CONFERENCE / ALIN MITRICĂ, MFE: "We must facilitate companies' access to European funding"

The Ministry of European Funds (MFE) will continue to provide easy access to European grants to small and medium enterprises, said Alin Mitrică, state secretary in the Ministry of European Funds.

He said that under the leadership of Eugen Teodorovici, the ministry has been a constant supporter of SMEs and it has insured the necessary framework for getting them to obtain European grants.

Alin Mitrică said: "In 2010, five financing programs using European grants were pre-suspended, and four of them were only resumed in 2013, when we have begun executing the absorption of European grants".

The secretary of state told us that the procedures for accessing funding have been simplified, and SMEs have the ability to ensure their cashflow in a more effective manner, which will have a positive impact on their future.

He told us that all the operational programs that can ensure grants will lead to the creation of new startups and to the stability of the SME sector.

"The SME component qualifies for the accessing European during the 2014-2020 programmatic period", said Alin Mitrică. "One of the financing sources can be represented by the Operational Program for Competitiveness, which is capable of ensuring funds on two segments, namely the research, development and innovation side, as well as the IT&C side".

The Common Agricultural Policy is also a potential financing source for SMEs, one which includes significant amounts of money on a regional level, Mr. Mitrică said, who mentioned that another program for the financing of SMEs is the Human Capital 2014-2020 Operational Program, which can add value for companies that need specialized workforce.

We must take into account the specificity of every financing program, in order to have an absorption of these European funds that is as efficient as possible, the MFE official said in closing.