Consolidating and promoting Romania’s position as a relevant actor in the decision-making process at the European level

The European Institute of Romania has implemented, between June 2018 and October 2020, the project „Consolidating and promoting Romania’s position as a relevant actor in the decision-making process at the European level” code SIPOCA 400 / code SMIS2014+ 115759. The project was implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (project leader), the Secretariat-General of the Government and École Nationale d’Administration from France.

The project has been selected by the Operational Programme Administrative Capacity, co-financed by the European Union through the European Social Fund, Priority Axis „Efficient public administration and judicial systems”, call for projects IP 8/2017 (MySMIS: POCA/129/1/1/) Support for the implementation of quality management, simplification measures for citizens and businesses, the systematization of legislation and systemic evaluation of the framework of regulations, Specific objective 1.1: Developing and introducing of common systems and standards in public administration that optimize the decision-making process oriented towards citizens and businesses, in accordance with SCAP.

The project aimed to consolidate and promote Romania’s position as a relevant actor in the policy making process at the European level, by developing a public policy in the field of European affairs, developing efficient working procedures at the level of Ministries, consolidating their capacity in the field of European affairs, elaborating and implementing a communication strategy and the realisation of thematic analyses on current topics, that are a priority in European affairs area.

The coordination of European affairs, both inter-institutionally, and at the level of representing Romania’s interests within the EU decision-making process, will be improved significantly, having as a result an increase in the relevance and in the level of substantiation of Romania’s position within the European Union decision-making process, including through improving the level of active representation within the European negotiation process.

The specific objectives of the project:

(1) improve Romania’s participation in the European Union decision-making process,

(2) improve the communication and collaboration in the field of European affairs and

(3) consolidate the capacity of the staff involved in coordination of European affairs.

The expected results of the projects were:

1. Developing a public policy in the field of European affairs,
2. Developing and implementing a communication strategy in the field of European affairs,
3. Consolidating the capacity of the staff involved in coordination of European affairs.

The total eligible budget of the project is 9.848.271,97 lei, as a result of the Addendum no. 1 to the Financing Contract, out of which:

• 8.270.959,20 lei (approx. 83,9838%) non-reimbursable financial support;
• 1.577.312,77 lei (approx. 16,0161%) contribution from beneficiaries.

The European Institute of Romania, public institution coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had the capacity of Partner no. 3 in the project and has organised, with the help of the European Studies Unit, a selection of experts-researchers for the five thematic analyses, as following:

1. The role and relevance of impact studies in defining the national positions at the EU level
2. The simplification of the cohesion policy for post-2020 period: possible solutions for streamlining the implementation
3. The impact of digitisation on the architecture and implementation of the European policies designed to strengthening the internal market
4. Artificial intelligence – the impact at the EU level on the productivity of the companies and on the labour market (Case-study: Romania)
5. Ways of deepening the Eastern Partnership for 2020 and beyond

For 2020, the following activities took place:

• Running 5 workshops, one for each thematic analysis, between 29 January and 13 February 2020;
• Organising 5 public debates, one for each thematic analysis, in March and April 2020;
• Elaborating the final version of each thematic analysis by the team of researchers;

The duration of the project (the part implemented by EIR): August 2019 – October 2020.

The budget of the project: the total allocated to EIR is of 560 827.40 lei, of which 89 822.88 lei is co-financed by EIR.

For addition information regarding the project, please contact Mr. Mihai Sebe, Acting Head of Unit, European Studies Unit/ Project Coordinator from EIR, proiecte[at]ier.gov.ro.