Several Romanian ministries and the World Bank are undertaking a Functional Review of their activity to identify actions that would improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of public services in the country, the World Bank has announced.

The program is undertaken based on the advisory services agreement with the Romanian Government and in collaboration with the European Commission. From March to October 2010 the World Bank will analyse the Center of Government, Competition, Pre-university Education, Transport, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Public Finance. In the second phase, from October 2010 to March 2011, a new set of sectors, to be decided with the European Commission and the Romanian Government will be included in the analysis. Overall recommendations will be included in an action plan that the Government will prepare, and which will be endorsed by the European Commission.

“The Government of Romania must become an audible voice among the 27 and contribute to the EU's goals in the global economy, in the EU 2020 strategy,” says Nicolae Idu, representative of the European Commission in Romania. “It also needs to implement locally the European policies. The Functional Reviews will boost Romania's administration capacity to rise up to the challenge, as Romania is now a full member of the EU.”

Romania lags behind other countries in Europe with respect to the quality and cost-effectiveness of services delivered. Not only must Romania converge to older EU members, but it will have to work as equal partner with the others to achieve the common EU objectives, according to the World Bank.

"The WB supports the reform of the administration because it's important and urgent. It's important not just to save money now, but to foster medium-term economic growth. It's urgent because, with the crisis, the country cannot afford to keep wasting resources through inefficient and inequitable processes. Too often people do not realize how difficult some decisions are and this increases resistance to change. Therefore we will also work with the Government to find ways to explain the key reforms and build broad coalitions," says François Rantrua, World Bank Country Manager for Romania.

Through the functional review of several key sectors, the World Bank reviews the quality of the policy making and barriers to effective policy implementation, as well as the horizontal issues with cross-cutting impact on the overall performance of the public sector.

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