Romania’s negotiations with the European Commission on the regional operational programmes will be soon concluded, according to Dirk Ahner, general director for Regional Policy with the European Commission, present at the official launch of the European Investment Bank’s Office in Romania. In advance, Romania will receive some money to launch several projects.

The European official appreciated the “excellent performance” of a new member state as Romania, the efforts and the advanced stage of the operational documents that Romanian authorities had sent to Brussels. The European commission has received up to 300 programmes so far and only eight, on behalf of Austria, have been endorsed.

Dirk Ahner explained that the absorption rate is not going to be high in 2007 because of the late launching date. However, the EC will grant Romania 7% of the funds allocated in 2007, which amounts to 1.4 billion Euros, to have a good start of the projects. In 2008, things will improve significantly.