Summary of the Partnership Agreement for Romania,

Transcription

1 EUROPEAN COMMISSION August 2014 Summary f the Partnership Agreement fr Rmania, Overall infrmatin The Partnership Agreement (PA) cvers five Eurpean Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF): the Eurpean Reginal Develpment Fund (ERDF), the Chesin Fund (CF), the Eurpean Scial Fund (ESF), the Eurpean Agricultural Fund fr Rural Develpment (EAFRD) and the Eurpean Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The PA fcusses n the fllwing challenges and crrespnding pririties: Prmting cmpetitiveness and lcal develpment, with a view t reinfrcing the sustainability f ecnmic peratrs and imprving reginal attractiveness; Develping human capital, by increasing the emplyment rate and tertiary educatin attainment, but als tackling the severe scial challenges and pverty levels, in particular fr deprived r marginalised cmmunities and in rural areas; Develping physical infrastructure, bth in ICT and the transprt sectr, in rder t increase the accessibility f Rmanian regins and their attractiveness fr investments; Encuraging sustainable and efficient use f natural resurces thrugh prmtin f energy efficiency and a lw carbn ecnmy, prtectin f the envirnment and adaptatin t climate change; Building a mdern and prfessinal public administratin by means f a systemic refrm aimed at vercming the structural gvernance shrtcmings. These funds are the crnerstne f Rmania s ability t address medium and lng-term develpment challenges. They will mbilise additinal public natinal and private funding fr grwth and jb creatin and will reduce reginal and scial disparities in Rmania. Investments will fcus n enhancing innvatin activity and cmpetitiveness f enterprises in rder t increase their added value, stimulate grwth, jb creatin and imprve the perfrmance f the research and innvatin system, including the quality f higher educatin, cperatin with the business sectr and increased private investment. One f the key challenges fr Rmania is t develp and upgrade its significant agricultural ptential, currently t cncentrated in lw added value activities, while at the same time accmpanying the farm restructuring prcess and releasing labur frce needed by ther cmpetitive sectrs. Investing in human capital and helping peple enter the labur market and imprve their skills will be a tp pririty in Rmania with a fcus n issues highlighted in the cuntryspecific recmmendatins. A strng emphasis is placed n cmbating yuth unemplyment. The funds will finance initiatives t imprve educatin and training systems with a view t better matching the labur frce skills with the market needs, in particular fr tertiary educatin and vcatinal educatin, but als fcusing n early

2 childhd educatin and care, primary and secndary educatin, especially fr deprived cmmunities, including Rma minrity. The health sectr will als be strngly supprted, fcussing n deprived cmmunities and prmting an alternative t hspitals, like primary and ambulatry care r e-health services. Rmania s effrts t shift frm institutinalised structures t cmmunity-based slutins fr children, the elderly and persns with disabilities will als be supprted by the ESIF. The ESF will als supprt Rmania's effrts t imprve the quality f its public administratin thrugh structural refrms, tgether with tailred supprt t the mst critical public institutins, building n the actin plans prepared with the supprt f the Wrld Bank. Investments in these areas will be instrumental in helping Rmania t respnd t the pririties f the Eurpe 2020 Strategy and cuntry-specific recmmendatins and the crrespnding plicy refrms in educatin, emplyment, scial inclusin and public administratin. A substantial share f the ESIF funding will be devted t extending and upgrading Rmania's transprt infrastructure, alng the future master plan which will shape the future netwrk at the hrizn In parallel, investments will be cntinued in waste, water and wastewater sectrs, in rder t cmply with the envirnmental As regards Rmania s requirements. rural areas, EAFRD funding will prmte a mre innvative and cmpetitive agri-fd sectr, and an increase in the added value f prducts. Farmers will be assisted t develp r restructure their businesses, and the diversificatin f ecnmic activities will reduce the current ver-dependence n agriculture and imprve jb prspects in rural areas. This will g hand in hand with a careful management f natural resurces, fcused n preserving Rmania's rich natural bidiversity and prmting sustainable management f agricultural and frestry land. Rural pverty will be targeted by investments t upgrade basic infrastructure and access t services, in rder t imprve quality f life in rural cmmunities and create the pre-cnditins fr lcal develpment. As regards Rmania's fisheries and aquaculture sectr, the EMFF will cntribute t supprt the Cmmn Fisheries Plicy bjectives fr sustainable develpment. T achieve these bjectives, investments will be targeted t prjects limiting the impact f fishing t the marine envirnment tgether with new frms f incme, as well as diversifying and adding value n fisheries and aquaculture prducts. Territrial challenges and disparities will als be addressed thrugh the lcal develpment instruments. Cmmunity Led Lcal Develpment (CLLD) will be implemented in rural areas (LEADER), deprived areas within urban centers and fisheries and castal areas where there are fisheries activities and aquaculture farms, while dedicated Integrated Territrial Investment (ITI) will supprt the Danube Delta. Metrplitan grwth ples and urban centres will als be supprted thrugh integrated strategies and Rmania will cntinue t actively supprt the develpment f the Danube Strategy. Rmania has chsen t finance investment under all 11 thematic bjectives defined in the Regulatins. Details n thematic bjectives are presented in Table 1. Chsen expected results ESIF supprt will substantially cntribute t prmting Rmania s ability t achieve key EU and natinal develpment pririties including, inter alia: Eurpe 2020 bjectives: Mre than 1 billin allcated t R&D and innvatin (TO1), supprting the natinal target f 2% f GDP invested in R&D (against 0.49% in 2012);

3 Mre energy efficient ecnmy, with 3.9 billin t be invested t supprt the shift t lw carbn ecnmy (TO4), including the further expansin f renewable energy (24% target); Substantial effrt n scial inclusin (TO9), with 3.4 billin, tackling the severe scial challenges faced by Rmania and cntributing t the bjective f reducing by the number f peple at risk f pverty r exclusin (cmpared t 2008); Increase labur market participatin (TO8), with a particular fcus n yung peple, with the aim f reaching the 70% natinal emplyment target (benefiting f 2.2 millin); Cntribute t reducing the early schl leaving t 11.3% and increasing the participatin in tertiary educatin t 26.7% (TO10), by investing an amunt f EUR 1.65 bn. Obligatins frm the Accessin Treaty Pursue the develpment f water and waste water services, with mre than 3 billin under TO6, cmpleting the cmpliance f agglmeratins abve 10,000 inhabitants and substantially cntributing t the equipment f agglmeratins abve 2,000 inhabitants; Bsting natinal cmpetitiveness: Further develp the natinal cverage fr bradband and NGA, thrugh TO2 and via LEADER, with at least 30 Mbps, in particular in rural areas, while tackling in parallel the lw take up thrugh dedicated measures (training, e-services and e- gvernment) acrss all pririties; Increase the prductivity and added value f agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture,, fstering the set-up f yung farmers and fishermen; Increase the cmpetitiveness f ecnmic peratrs and the survival rates f yung SMEs, thrugh direct supprt and financial engineering schemes, under TO3; Further develp the endwment and reliability f transprt netwrk, benefiting frm 20% f the ESIF allcatin under TO7, fr imprving the accessibility f regins and their attractiveness fr industrial investments; Tackle the administrative deficiencies, thrugh systemic gvernance and administrative refrms, benefiting frm 800 millin. Budget In the allcatin fr Rmania is arund 22.4 billin fr Chesin Plicy (ERDF, ESF, Chesin Fund) with additinal resurces f 106 millin frm the Yuth Emplyment Initiative (matched by the same amunt frm ESF). A further 8 billin will be devted t develpment f the agricultural sectr and rural areas frm the Eurpean Agricultural Fund fr Rural Develpment (EAFRD). The allcatin fr Eurpean Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) amunts t sme 168 millin. Details n the allcatin are given in a table belw.

4 Given the wide scpe f challenges faced by Rmania, all thematic bjectives will be supprted. Nnetheless, Rmania is cncentrating 51.2% f ERDF funding in favur f R&D (TO1), ICT (TO2), cmpetitiveness (TO3) and lw carbn ecnmy (TO4), with 5.5 billin, abve the minimum requirement. Similarly, significant cncentratin f resurces benefits t the TO4, with 3.25 billin amunting fr 30% f ERDF allcatin and well abve the minimum requirement, largely stemming frm the envisaged supprt fr thermal rehabilitatin f buildings. The share f ESF in the allcatin f Structural Funds (ERDF and ESF) amunts t 30.8%, at arund 4.8 billin, in line with the required minimum share, with a share f 23% fr scial inclusin and fight against pverty, abve the minimum required f 20%. There is a strng fcus f EAFRD resurces (39% f allcatin) n bidiversity, sustainable land management, and mitigatin & adaptin t climate change in agriculture & frestry (under TO's 4, 5 & 6), and t cmpetitiveness in agricultural & fd prcessing sectr (29% under TO3). The whle territry f Rmania, except fr the capital regin f Bucharest Ilfv, belngs t less develped regins. Given Bucharest's imprtant develpment needs, and in particular its imprtance especially in R&D activities in the cuntry, Rmania decided t increase the allcatin fr Bucharest Ilfv t 893 millin thrugh a transfer f the maximum 3% frm less develped regins. Prgramme architecture Chesin plicy will be delivered by 8 peratinal prgrammes (OPs), s 1 less cmpared t perid: Prgramme fr cmpetitiveness (ERDF), fcussing n thematic bjectives 1 and 2; Prgramme fr large infrastructure (transprt, envirnment and energy), financed by ERDF and Chesin Fund, under thematic bjectives 6 and 7; Reginal prgramme (ERDF), addressing reginal and lcal needs (under thematic bjectives 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 9); Prgramme fr technical assistance (ERDF), supprting the management f ESIF; Prgramme fr human capital (ESF), under thematic bjectives 8, 9 and 10, tackling emplyment, educatin and scial inclusin pririties; Prgramme fr administrative capacity (ESF), under thematic bjective 11, tackling administrative refrm and supprt t public institutins; As fr the perid, there will be ne natinal-level Rural Develpment Prgramme (financed by EAFRD) and ne Maritime and Fisheries prgramme (financed by EMFF). Details n allcatins t prgrammes are presented in table 2.

5 Table 1: Allcatin: breakdwn by thematic bjective and by fund (except territrial cperatin). ERDF ESF CF EAFRD EMFF TOTAL 1.Strengthening research, technlgical develpment and innvatin 973,404, ,523,400-1,066,927, Enhancing access t, and use and quality f, infrmatin and cmmunicatin technlgies 531,914, ,914, Enhancing the cmpetitiveness f small and mediumsized enterprises, the agricultural sectr (fr the EAFRD) and the fisheries and aquaculture sectr (fr the EMFF) 744,680, ,287,993,961 84,210,685 3,116,885, Supprting the shift twards a lw-carbn ecnmy in all sectrs 3,248,063, ,574, ,179,372 3,368,427 3,897,186, Prmting climate change adaptatin, risk preventin and management ,723,404 1,536,222,695-2,014,946, Preserving and prtecting the envirnment and prmting resurce efficiency 926,404,255-2,892,443,785 1,115,224,800 37,052,701 4,971,125, Prmting sustainable transprt and remving bttlenecks in key netwrk infrastructures 2,728,208,359-3,404,255, ,132,463, Prmting sustainable and quality emplyment and supprting labur mbility 101,063,830 1,563,930, ,921,367 33,684,278 2,228,599, Prmting scial inclusin and, cmbating pverty and any discriminatin 521,276,596 1,133,855,426-1,752,959,222-3,408,091, Investing in educatin, training and vcatinal training fr skills and lifelng learning 361,702,128 1,257,101,071-35,270,500-1,654,073, Enhancing institutinal capacity f public authrities and stakehlders and an efficient public administratin 265,957, ,063, ,021,277 Technical assistance 323,404, ,085, ,368,085 10,105, ,962,726 TOTAL 10,726,080,699 4,774,035,918 6,934,996,977 8,015,663, ,421,371 30,619,198,367 The allcatin t Yuth Emplyment Initiative accunts fr 212millin (half frm YEI special allcatin and half frm ESF).

6 Table 2: Allcatin t prgrammes Prgramme ESI Funds allcatin Large Infrastructure OP ERDF CF Human Capital OP ESF+YEI Administrative Capacity OP ESF Cmpetitiveness OP ERDF Technical Assistance OP ERDF Reginal OP ERDF NRDP EARDF FMAOP EMFF Ttal