The Absorption Rate Of Eu Structural And Cohesion Funds In 2007-2013 And The Impact On Macroeconomic Indicators Of Romania

The Structural and Cohesion Funds (SCF) represent the most important financial instruments for sustaining the EU Cohesion Policy aimed at achievement the convergence objective by reducing the disparities between Member States i.e. of development gaps, including at the regions level. The financial execution of EU allocations for the programming period 2007-2013 showed a SCF absorption rate of only 27% in the case of Romania, the lowest level among CEE countries. The analysis of this last one position has highlighted causes related to the system of European funds management and accessing, common or specific to different stages and levels, but also a series of outside factors, mainly the legislative barriers and the global crisis persistent effects. Even Romania stands for a net beneficiary position relative to the EU budget, the macroeconomic impact of SCF has proved itself below Romaniaâ€(tm)s expectations. The amount of 5.1 billion EUR of SCF reimbursed to Romania cumulated during the period 2007-2013 represented only 2% of the GFCF and 0.5% of the GDP. The main macroeconomic indicators in terms of employment, exports, foreign investments, external debt and public debt have deteriorated over the period. As concerns the exercise 2014-2020, the lessons learned from the previous programming period, along with addressing Romaniaâ€(tm)s economic vulnerabilities and under favorable circumstances of the international context, a significant improvement of SCF absorption rate is expected, increasing also their macroeconomic impact.