Evaluarea impactului primului Program Phare al Uniunii Europene asupra dezvoltarii regionale din România

Romania has promised, according to the 1998 Memorandum of Understanding concluded with the European Commission, to decelop its institutional capacity needed for the implementation of structural-type funding. This is why, starting with 2000, together with the achievement of the second major reform of strctural funds for the European Union, Romania has continued its structural dialogue with the Commission within a new framework, represented by an annual financial support, 6 times bigger that the previous ones, through 3 main programmes shaping after the structural instruments. More that 70% of the budget of one of these programmes - the Phare Programme - is addresing the Economic and Social Cohesion, which means, in practical terms, more than 100 milion euro each year, to be spent based on the National development Plan, in accordance with the procedures emulating the European Fund for Regional Development and the European Social Fund, while the other two - ISPA and SAPARD Programmes are also meant to "train" Romanian institutional structures for accessing the Cohesion Fund and, respectively, the European Agriculture Orientation and Guarantee Fund, Orientation section.