DETERMINANTS OF INCREASING EU FUNDS
                  ABSORPTION CAPACITY IN ROMANIA

                                  George Georgescu, PhD
                       Senior Researcher, Institute of National Economy


ABSTRACT: The study found that, during the early post-accession years, Romania failed to
attract European funds, at least to the same extent to the national contribution at the
community budget, registering a net expenditure as an EU member. The determinants of
increasing EU funds absorption rate are related, among other, to the availability of internal
resources for projects co-financing, adequate administrative capacity at central and local
levels, appropriate inter-institutional coordination and public-private partnerships, high
skills and motivation of human resources working in operational programs Management
Authorities and intermediary bodies. Activating these determinants could be an opportunity
for sustaining economic growth of Romania and recovering the development gap, which is
supposed to alleviate also the adverse effects of international financial crisis on EU countries.

Keywords: economic development, EU integration, structural funds, determinants of absorption
capacity, absorption rate, operational programs.

JEL Codes: F15, F36, F43, O19.