European budget commissioner: Romanian issues not exceptional / Leonard Orban: A cut in EU funds after 2014 not excluded

Joi, 2 decembrie 2010, 12:41 English | Regional Europe

The current economic environment is difficult and Europe is pessimistic, rather defensive - a situation which should not persist, European budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski said in Bucharest on Thursday. He said that looking towards the the next 2014-2020 financial framework, the Cohesion Policy, used to allocate structural and cohesion funds, is not sufficiently defended politically and should be supported mainly by the states that take benefit from it, including Romania.

Former European commissioner Leonard Orban said, for his part, that Romania would push to receive at least the same amount of funds after 2014 as it did so far but that he did not exclude a cut in EU funding.

Asked how he regards the economic contraction in Romania this year, Lewandowski said there were no exceptional issues in Romania as the whole euro zone is facing issues.

He said that in June 2011 a coherent form of the 2014-2020 financial framework should be presented and that until than the cohesion policy should receive a stronger defense mainly by states that are interested in it being maintained, including Romania.

The statements were made during a conference on European development and economic governance which was organised by the representation of the European Commission and the Romanian Center for European Policies in Bucharest.