THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE BANKING SECTOR IN CO-FINANCING
          EUROPEAN FUNDED PROJECTS PROPOSED BY
              ROMANIAN PRIVATE COMPANIES

                                Laurenţiu Droj, University of Oradea


ABSTRACT: The European Integration came with new challenges for the Romanian enterprises
especially for the SMEs, the opportunities arising from operating on the European Single Market
and the possibility for accession of European Structural Funds. This article will tackle with the
issue of access of the Romanian SME’s to European funding. The New Definition of SME’s will be
presented as an important tool for implementing efficient measures in order to raise the
accessibility of European financing programmes. Will be analyzed and presented the main
European Financing programmes. A higher emphasis will be made towards programmes which are
intending to directly support strengthening and upgrading of the productive sector The third part of
this paper will analyze and present the role of the banking sector, within this field of activity, both
in the preparation and implementation stages of the private European funded investment projects.

Key words: SME, European financing, European Union, European Funded Programs, Banking, National
Guarantee Fund for SMEs

JEL codes: G38, G21, G32, F36, F35