THE IMPACT OF STRUCTURAL AND COHESION FUNDS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION IN ROMANIA'S LOCAL AUTHORITIES

Implementation of EU structural funds in Romania is, at the same time, an opportunity for economic and social development, but also a challenge for local and national public administration authorities. They have a responsibility, on the one hand, to manage resource allocation, and on the other hand, effectively absorb these funds, given the fact that over 80% of the funds we must get through European programs until 2013 are intended. Although the policy of decentralization and reforms implemented in Romania in recent years were strongly influenced, in what concerns accessing EU funds, by the European model of territorial management, based on regional development in order to improve local access to community programs, this approach result was not the expected one, leading to the lowest level of absorption of European funds from all the member states. Starting from this idea according to which the stake is not the rate of absorption, but the impact of the implementation of the projects financed with European funds, and the added value generated by it, this work aims to discuss a series of aspects related to the current and potential impact of the financial assistance programmes of the EU on local communities in Romania.