Kollatz-Ahnen, EIB: Structural funds are “the natural way out of the crisis”

In the absence of massive investments in infrastructure, the Romanian economy will not see “a sound recovery,” with the only natural way to emerge from the crisis being to attract structural funds, believes Mathias Kollatz-Ahnen, vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The EIB official believes that particularly because Romania has signed a financing agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to which the budget deficit cannot exceed 5.9% of the Gross Domestic Product, co-financing of structural fund projects needs to be a priority for the Romanian Government.

“In order to maximise the effects of the investments made under the umbrella of the IMF agreement, the government needs to co-finance European-funded projects. The budget does not allow for major investments, but the Romanian authorities need to find the means to cover the 30 or 15% co-financing required from them. If a country like Romania has access to structural funds, then this is a natural anti-crisis set of measures,” Kollatz-Ahnen explains.