Funds for European Cities

Over 100 billion Euro worth of projects will be developed in various European cities, through the EU Urban Agenda.

Daniela Budu, 31.05.2016, 14:28

Over 2016-2020, the European Commission
will fund projects worth over 100 billion Euros, which will be developed in
various cities through the EU Urban Agenda. 15 billion Euros of the
aforementioned sum of money will be managed directly by the cities, for the
first time ever, as the EU Commissioner
for Regional Development, Corina Cretu said:

It is a sign of great
confidence in the cities and also a big
responsibility. We are now waiting to receive projects. Cities are
expected to come up with good quality projects. They know best what the
population’s needs are, what is appropriate and what is not. In Romania, 19
cities will receive money straight from the budget. The Romanian Government has
decided that 25% of the total value of the funds allotted to Romania between
2016 and 2020 – and it is the highest quota in Europe – will go directly to
cities.

Corina Cretu said that in the coming
period of time, the Commission will organise conferences on the EU Urban Agenda
in several cities across Romania, Bucharest included. According to the European
official, due to the common issues they are faced with, many European cities
will conclude partnerships.

Corina
Cretu: It is extremely important for us to work with these
cities, to provide technical assistance so that they can draft quality projects
and ultimately improve people’s lives. We know, from our past experience, that
a lot of money has been wasted, and we’ve been faced with a severe shortage of
quality projects capable of producing a major impact. Therefore, I encourage
the Romanian authorities to get involved in partnerships.

The State Secretary with the Regional
Development Ministry Mihaela Vrabete has announced that Romania is already
participating in two of the four partnerships that have been launched:
Timisoara has joined the efforts to contain urban poverty and Constanta is
involved in a partnership on air quality.

Mihaela Vrabete: We will pay special heed to the network of small
and medium seized towns, in terms of the number of jobs created and local
economic development expertise. Last but not least, we pay attention to land
planning in the most sustainable way, because land is full of resources.
Undoubtedly, it will be a big challenge for Romania to bring together all stakeholders,
namely institutions, associations and other bodies, which are active in the
field of urban development in the respective domains. Citizens’ involvement is
absolutely necessary. And whether we hate the word ‘volunteering’ or not, we
should think what we do for our cities ourselves. If we like to lead a good
life, it is not enough to knock on some doors or make petitions, it’s us that
must do something about it and it is important to do that wholeheartedly.

The Urban Agenda is a priority of the
Dutch Presidency of the EU. The agenda is mainly aimed to improve the
legislative framework, to European money more effectively and to ensure an
exchange of good practices among the European cities.