Romania passes EUR 100 bln mark in EU funds received since joining
Romania has received over EUR 100 billion in EU funds since joining the European Union in 2007, according to Marcel Boloș, minister of investments and European projects. The community funds have been invested mainly in infrastructure and community development.
Thanks to the EU money, nearly 900 km of highways and express roads have been built in Romania in the last two decades and the homes of over 3 million Romanians have been connected to the sewage network. Also, more than 100,000 companies have received grants for development and thousands of schools and hospitals have been renovated, equipped, or expanded, Marcel Boloș noted.
"While extremist voices are trying to downplay the benefits of our EU membership, let’s not forget that development is not about naive pride, but pragmatism. Romania did not grow out of nothing, it did not transform overnight, and it certainly did not develop by rejecting opportunities. It is the engine that has fundamentally changed the structure of our economy,” the minister said.
Boloș also said that Romania has surpassed Poland, Hungary, Croatia, and Greece in GDP per capita.
"If we are reckless, we blame the European bloc, but the fact that we are experiencing the best moment in our country’s development is due to our EU and NATO membership," he said.
The EU funds also opened the door to organic growth. Marcel Boloș explained that the annual pace of private investment in the economy has tripled in 2024 compared to the time of accession, rising from about RON 100 billion to over RON 350 billion.
"Without EU funds, Romania would have been trapped in an endless cycle of underdevelopment, relying solely on a national budget insufficient for strategic investments. Let’s look at our neighbors who did not have access to these funds - they have been left significantly behind,” he concluded.
Present at the signing event for financing contracts worth EUR 100 million for the digitalization of public services and the interconnection of databases, prime minister Marcel Ciolacu added that Romania modernized itself with European funds.
“For every euro we contributed, we received three euros from the EU. When Romanians hear someone claiming that we don’t need European money, they should think about how Romania would look today without EUR 100 billion and what our future would be like without this resource,” Ciolacu said, cited by News.ro.
On the other side, pro-Russian politician Călin Georgescu, currently under investigation for incitement to actions against constitutional order, among other charges, said in a recent interview that he does not want Romania to receive EU funds because "the people have God."
"Who is interested in EU money? The country is rich; I do not need their money. The Romanian people have God. So we are not interested. A country’s independence comes from its ability to finance itself," said Călin Georgescu.
(Photo source: Marian Vejcik | Dreamstime.com)
