Ms. Corina Crețu, Commissioner for Regional Policy, visited today two projects funded under the Cross Border Cooperation Programme Romania- Bulgaria 2007-2013.

The commissioner was accompanied Mr. Vasile Dîncu, Vice-Prime Minister, Minister for Regional Development and Public Administration in Romania.
Ms. Corina Crețu and Mr. Vasile Dîncu visited the School of Mathemathics “Baba Tonka” in Rousse. The ICT Project - A force for change in education, implemented between September 2011 and March 2013 by 6 Bulgarian and Romanian partners, had a budget of 1.5 million euros. Its goal was to establish an educational partnership model to promote the integration of ICT in education between NGOs , schools and municipalities . 6 schools (in Ruse , Veliko Tarnovo , Glavinitsa , Calarasi and Lehliu Station ) received equipment for 10 scientific cabinets.
In Giurgiu, the commissioner and the romanian prime-minister visited the JAMES project, which was carried out between November 2010 and March 2013. The project budget was 5.6 million euros, having as partners Giurgiu County Council and the Ministry of Interior of Bulgaria . The goal was to improve the capacity to intervene in emergency situations within the Giurgiu-Ruse area. The project was built a common management and emergency intervention equipment were purchased. As a result, a common center for emergency situations management was built and intervention equipment was purchased inside the project.
The Romania-Bulgaria Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2007-2013 has a total budget of 252 million euro (Programme sheet attached). The final rate of implementation is estimated to exceed 90%, based on the initial financial allocation.
The successor of this Programme is the Interreg V- A Romania – Bulgaria Programme (Programme sheet attached). The Programme was among the first programmes approved in Romania and Bulgaria, which launched the first calls for proposals (simultaneously with the National Rural Development Programme in Romania and the first in Bulgaria). Currently, the entire financial allocation is available under the calls for proposals (EUR 258 million). 23 projects (17.5 million euro) are already in the second trimester of implementation (soft projects in the fields of transport, environment, tourism, risks).The next meeting of the Monitoring Committee, which will select hard projects in the areas mentioned above, will be held in August. Projects submitted in the areas of labor and institutional framework are under evaluation.

To view pictures from this event, click here.