Over 2016-2020, the European Commission
\nwill fund projects worth over 100 billion Euros, which will be developed in
\nvarious cities through the EU Urban Agenda. 15 billion Euros of the
\naforementioned sum of money will be managed directly by the cities, for the
\nfirst time ever, as the EU Commissioner
\nfor Regional Development, Corina Cretu said:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It is a sign of great
\nconfidence in the cities and also a big
\nresponsibility. We are now waiting to receive projects. Cities are
\nexpected to come up with good quality projects. They know best what the
\npopulation’s needs are, what is appropriate and what is not. In Romania, 19
\ncities will receive money straight from the budget. The Romanian Government has
\ndecided that 25% of the total value of the funds allotted to Romania between
\n2016 and 2020 – and it is the highest quota in Europe – will go directly to
\ncities. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Corina Cretu said that in the coming
\nperiod of time, the Commission will organise conferences on the EU Urban Agenda
\nin several cities across Romania, Bucharest included. According to the European
\nofficial, due to the common issues they are faced with, many European cities
\nwill conclude partnerships. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Corina
\nCretu: It is extremely important for us to work with these
\ncities, to provide technical assistance so that they can draft quality projects
\nand ultimately improve people’s lives. We know, from our past experience, that
\na lot of money has been wasted, and we’ve been faced with a severe shortage of
\nquality projects capable of producing a major impact. Therefore, I encourage
\nthe Romanian authorities to get involved in partnerships.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The State Secretary with the Regional
\nDevelopment Ministry Mihaela Vrabete has announced that Romania is already
\nparticipating in two of the four partnerships that have been launched:
\nTimisoara has joined the efforts to contain urban poverty and Constanta is
\ninvolved in a partnership on air quality. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mihaela Vrabete: We will pay special heed to the network of small
\nand medium seized towns, in terms of the number of jobs created and local
\neconomic development expertise. Last but not least, we pay attention to land
\nplanning in the most sustainable way, because land is full of resources.
\nUndoubtedly, it will be a big challenge for Romania to bring together all stakeholders,
\nnamely institutions, associations and other bodies, which are active in the
\nfield of urban development in the respective domains. Citizens’ involvement is
\nabsolutely necessary. And whether we hate the word ‘volunteering’ or not, we
\nshould think what we do for our cities ourselves. If we like to lead a good
\nlife, it is not enough to knock on some doors or make petitions, it’s us that
\nmust do something about it and it is important to do that wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Urban Agenda is a priority of the
\nDutch Presidency of the EU. The agenda is mainly aimed to improve the
\nlegislative framework, to European money more effectively and to ensure an
\nexchange of good practices among the European cities. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over 100 billion Euro worth of projects will be developed in various European cities, through the EU Urban Agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":56500,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-68785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n