Workshop on EU funding opportunities for agricultural and rural development in Romania

In the framework of an existing strategic partnership with Euractiv Romania, on the 9th of October 2015, Schuman Associates supported the organization of a special event dedicated to EU funding opportunities for agricultural and rural development in Romania.

The event gathered national public stakeholders from the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers' associations, small and large businesses from the agricultural sector, as well as banks and local consultants.  The Rural Development Programme (RDP) for Romania was formally adopted by the European Commission on 26 May 2015, outlining Romania's priorities for using nearly € 9.5 billion of public money that is available for the period 2014-2020.

The Romanian RDP focuses mainly on 3 priority areas: promoting competitiveness and restructuring in Romania's large agricultural sector; environmental protection & climate change; and stimulating economic development, job creation and a better quality of life in Romanian villages, where the situation is frequently well below both EU and average national levels.

In practice, the RDP is expected to help modernise nearly 3 400 farms and cooperatives, support the development of more than 30 000 small farms, and help more than 9 400 young farmers to start up.

The first calls for projects under the Romanian RDP are already out and more are scheduled to be made available starting January 2016. For all EU funding opportunities available on the Romanian market, our colleagues in the Bucharest office look forward to getting in touch with you.