Romanian officials have reacted to the recent statement by the Swedish Minister for European Affairs, Birgitta Ohlsson, who said the Romanian Government has refused the proposal of external help in sending EU funds dedicated to the Roma minority.

The Romanian EU Funds Minister Eugen Teodorovici expressed his concern, and said the approach was totally unfair, and lacked diplomacy towards Romania.

“Romania has never refused and will never refuse a proposal to collaborate from another member state! Romania was and stays open to any sort of cooperation. The Government I represent has said it countless times: the statements of good intentions need to turn into concrete actions, and it is true. So, there is not only interest, but political will as well on behalf of Romania authorities in the use of EU funds, in all areas,” said the minister in an official statement.

Teodorovici added that discussions with all other countries on the Roma problem were never 'furious', as he labeled the Swedish reaction, and that dialogue has always been constructive. He added that the statements follow a series of recent meetings with a Swedish delegation, all of which were 'nice and peaceful'.

Romania has supported around 131,000 Roma individuals via EU – funded projects so far, out of the total declared Roma population in Romania, or 621,000, according to the most recent census. This means 20 percent of the Roma population in Romania benefited from EU funding via the Sectoral Program for Human Resources – POS DRU.

Sweden's Birgitta Ohlsson said in a recent interview that Romania refused help on using EU funds for Roma, and shared her indignation, in an interview for the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. She said Romania in fact opposed the creation of a group of experts from the EU which would make sure the EU funds actually benefit the Roma.

editor@romania-insider.com