Integrated Territorial Investment – Successful

regional development policy

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MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR
COHESION POLICY 2021-2027
Strategic approach- 5 objectives of the Cohesion Policy

A smarter
Europe

A more
A greener
connected
Europe
Europe

A Europe A more
closer to social
citizens Europe
MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR
COHESION POLICY 2021-2027

Architecture and funds

1. Investments Financed
for jobs and from ERDF,
growth ESF+ and CF

2. European
Territorial Financed
Cooperation from ERDF

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MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR
COHESION POLICY 2021-2027
Type of Regions

whose GDP
per capita is
1. Less developed
less than 75%
regions
of the EU-27's
average GDP

whose GDP per

capita is between
2. Regions in
75% and 100% of
transition
the EU-27 average
GDP

3. More
developed whose GDP per capita
regions is over 100% of the
EU-27 average GDP

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MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR
COHESION POLICY 2021-2027
Financial aspects (MFF)
 Main type - grants
 Cofinance at national level:
 70% for less developed regions and for the Cohesion Fund
 40% for more developed regions.
 Annual prefinance – 0,5 % from the total amount of support from funds
It is proposed to systematize and increase the use of simplified cost options
(lump sum reimbursement, standard scales for unit costs or lump sums, etc.).
VAT - is not eligible for a contribution from the funds, except for operations
whose total cost is less than EUR 5 000 000.
Decommittment - „N + 2” rule

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Cooperation mechanism

Line Ministries
Managing auhorities
- Strategies and strategic
- Lessons learned documents
- Good practice examples - Enabling conditions
- Simplification - Investment needs

Ministry of European Funds

External support (consultants)
- strategic documents (PA & OPs) Relevant socio-economic partners
- Reports regarding enabling - Comments on strategic documents
conditions - Investment priorities/needs
-Implementation of the
partnership principle (public
debates)
 Cohesion Policy 2021-2017 allocation
The allocation of Cohesion Policy for the period 2021-2027 is 331 billion
euros
The current MFF allocation proposal for Romania is € 30.60 billion, as follows:
 ESF+: 8,385 billion euro
 ERDF: 17,323 billion euro
 CF: 4,499 billion euro
Proposed allocation * for each PO (excluding the amounts allocated for TA):
 PO1: 5,992 billion euro
 PO2: 5,459 billion euro
 PO3: 5,945 billion euro
 PO4: 9,673 billion euro
 PO5: 1,027 billion euro
* After reallocating 5% from the ESF to the ERDF and taking into account the thematic concentration 7
 Integrated Territorial Investments(ITI)

• European funds support integrated territorial development through

local and territorial development strategies implemented through ITI
territorial instruments, DLRC or other nationally developed
instruments
• ITI - an optional tool for territorial development that makes it
possible to combine the resources from several European funds,
within the priority axes of one or more Operational Programs (OPs)

Key elements of an Integrated Territorial Investment

the
package of
existence of integrated
priorities system of
a clearly development
and governance
identified strategy
projects
territory
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 Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI)
- Implementation at any type of level: a region, a functional
the area, a municipality, a neighborhood or any other sub-national
existence of
a clearly
division
identified - May cross administrative boundaries, because it’s addressing
territory specific requirements of an area that can improve the efficiency
of public interventions

- Increased integration of sectoral policies and interventions

at the level of the identified territory
- Focus on funding and prioritising interventions
integrated
development
- Thematic integration- integrating strategic objectives from
strategy several local strategies, including investment priorities from
several policy objectives as well as integrating public and private
funding flows
- Assume locally the integrated development strategy
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 Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI)

Establishing priorities at the local level and successfully

implementing the projects requires:
package of - modifying working practices and developing the capacity to
priorities and provide and implement the territorial development policy
projects
- facilitating a strategic way of thinking
- applying the prioritisation of the actions
- concentrating resources locally

The vertical and horizontal relationships between the partners

system of must be clearly established and the responsibilities shared
governance The ITI governance system must be at least responsible for
selecting interventions from public funds

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 Challenges in implementing an ITI
 complexity of the instrument - Financing from several funds, including
national and local
 possible differences between the objectives and priorities identified at
national level with the needs identified at local / territorial level
limited material resources at the level of the local authorities
necessary for the preparation and implementation of the projects
 low operational capacity of local actors (knowledge level, project
development, budget management, team work)
 differences between OPs from which they are financed - complex rules in
implementation
 limited involvement of partners
 the difficulty of establishing the level of financing needed for
implementation - because of the funding from several funds (many funds)
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 Conclusions

ITI - an optional tool for territorial development and its use should be made
only in very well-founded situations, based on some
Clear criteria
The existence of a territory established on the basis of common specific
characteristics (the same types of problems or opportunities, economic,
geographical factors, etc.)
Integrated Development Strategy - the main components:

 general objective
an analysis of the development needs and the potential of the area
 clear investment priorities and different funding sources identified
(NOT to focus strictly on funding from European funds)
 a list of mature investments
 an analysis of the impact of the proposed investments 12
 Conclusions

The existence of a partnership agreement elaborated and signed by all

the authorities involved in ITI, which will ensure the organisation and
operationalisation of the governance system.
There are no separate amounts for ITI financing compared to the
budget granted to RO in MFF 2021-2027

All the rules applicable to European funds also apply to ITIs, including
those related to thematic focus on priority areas
There is NO DEROGATION, neither in the selection, nor in the
implementation, for ITI projects, compared to those applicable to
the operational programs from which the financing is made !!!!!
The amounts allocated unpaid will be redistributed to the OP
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 Community- Led Local
Development

CLLD concept
 European tool for promoting integrated development and community involvement in local development by
forming a local partnership (Local Action Group (LAG) and implementing local development strategies (SDL)
 TERRITORIES on which community lead actions can be applied are:
 a city, small or medium, and the polarized rural area in the vicinity;
 a peripheral rural area devoid of urban centers;
 an area along a river sector or around a lake with fishing resources;
 a neighborhood within a city;
 several neighborhoods that fall into a common typology;
 a neighboring rural area or the peri-urban edge around a large city, or around an estuary, lake or river basin.

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 Community -Led Local
Development
The CLLD tool can be used in areas such as:
• solving problems in local labor markets
• solving problems regarding vulnerable social groups such as the Roma
or migrant population
• development of economic clusters at local level
• creation / renovation of social shelters
• improving rural services
• small infrastructure development / rehabilitation
• improvement of environmental conditions.

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 Community- Led Local
Development
Proposal for the post-2020 CLLD approach
Must be taken into consideration:
• the new provisions for territorial instruments at the level of post-2020
regulations - the possibility of LEAD-FUND
• current experience: the procedural steps taken, the framework
documents elaborated
• the experience gained locally
• the large ESF allocation available to Romania (EUR 8.4 billion) and the
possibility of financing the ESF under a more Social Europe only, on
the one hand and, on the other hand, the need to meet the thematic
concentration criteria for integrated urban development (6%) within a
Europe closer to the citizens.
• persistence of the problems of marginalization at the city level, (but
also the need for support for development, for creating a certain
standard of living, for developing the business environment) 16
 Community -Led Local
Development
It is proposed a dual use of the CLLD at the city level:
Continuing the current approach, by implementing the CLLD mechanism
at the level of marginalized communities in urban areas)
PRIORITY
PRIORITY
Reducing the risk of poverty of vulnerable communities by implementing
integrated measures through the CLLD tool
- It is recommended that the ESF become Lead Fund for the dedicated
LDSs of marginalized urban communities
- in the conditions of orientation towards financing of the Strategies
for the urban marginalized communities with priority from the ESF and
their classification in OP 4
it is important to focus LDS on ESF interventions.
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 Integrated Territorial
Investments
The only Integrated Territorial Investment for the 2014-2020 programming period
implemented in Romania, according to the Partnership Agreement, is based on the
Integrated Strategy for the Sustainable Development of the Danube Delta; The strategy was
elaborated by the MRDPA with assistance from the World Bank and with financial support
from the
POAT 2007-2013, which was approved by GD 602/2016.

1,661 Projects submitted, of which: 1.368.756.896 Euro projects submitted, of which:

908 Projects contracted 826.194.326 Euro projects contracted
1,800 1,600,000,000
1,661
1,600 1,400,000,000 1,368,756,896

1,400 1,200,000,000

1,200 1,000,000,000
826,194,326
1,000
800,000,000
800
600,000,000
600
400,000,000
400
908
200,000,000
200 18
0
0
Integrated Territorial
Investments
1386 Approved projects, of which the
allocation of ITI: 792,540,268.28 Euro

70
%
From the amount
allocated through
the ITI mechanism

The territory of the ITI Danube Delta has a

budget of 1.114 billion Euro, allocated by
E.C.
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 Thank you!

Mihaela Virginia Toader

Secretary of State, Ministry of European Funds

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