A new cold shower for Romania in
\nBrussels this week, as the European Commission on Monday made public the 2019
\nresults of its Regional Competitiveness Index (RCI), which has been measuring
\nmajor factors of competitiveness for European regions every three years. This confirms
\nthe fact that, despite the claims of local and central authorities in Romania,
\naccording to whom Romania has been bridging the development gap compared to
\nother Western regions, the gaps are still there. The Regional Competitiveness
\nIndex measures factors such as innovation, the complexity of the business
\nenvironment, infrastructure or the labor market. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to an official
\nCommission release, the 2019 results confirm a polycentric pattern with a
\nstrong performance of most capitals and regions with large cities, while other
\nregions in the same country in some cases score much worse. Such is the case of
\nBulgaria and Romania. According to the 2019 RCI, ranking first in Europe is the
\nSwedish capital Stockholm, with 100 points, followed by London and Utrecht in
\nthe Netherlands, with 99 points. The most economically dynamic region in
\nRomania is the Bucharest-Ilfov region, which nevertheless ranks far below other
\nEuropean regions, namely 158th in a ranking of 268 regions, with
\n55.9 points. Bucharest too is far from other capitals in Central and Eastern
\nEurope such as Warsaw, Prague and Bratislava. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The North-West region in Romania,
\nwhich also includes the biggest city in Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca, ranks 246th
\nwith 20.9 points. This is also the only region that fares above the national
\naverage of 17.84 points. The North-West region ranks above the European average
\nonly in terms of labor market effectiveness. There are, however, criteria where
\nRomania’s North-West region has fared poorly compared to similar regions in
\nGreece, Slovakia and Poland: infrastructure and basic education. Besides,
\ncompared to 2010, when the first RCI results were compiled, the North-West now
\nranks below the West region, driven by its largest city, Timisoara. The
\nSouth-East region of Romania is ranked in the last-but one position at EU
\nlevel, ahead only of the North Aegean region. Pundits note that Romania’s
\nsouth-east, including counties such as Braila, Buzau, Constanta, Galati, Tulcea
\nand Vrancea, in fact fares below the French Guiana, an overseas department and
\nregion of France, which is the third most underdeveloped region in the 2019
\nRCI. Experts also say this is a sign of
\npoor local administration. Galati and Braila are Romania’s biggest ports on the
\nDanube, while Constanta is one of Europe’s largest maritime ports, flanked by
\npopular seacoast resorts. Tulcea, on the other hand, encompasses the Danube
\nDelta, and all the aforementioned counties boast significant industrial
\nactivities.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by V.
\nPalcu) <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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