Danish bilateral projects and assistance to Romania Denmark contributes to Romania’s EU-accession preparations through a number of projects and advisory assistance both bilaterally and through EU-funded projects. Much of the Danish pre-accession assistance to Romania is strategically aimed at improving the capacity of the Romanian administration in critical upstream sectors. Projects are often devised in such a way as to unlock significant down stream advantages for instance by improving the ability of Romanian authorities to receive and benefit from international funding. Advisory assistance constitutes a central aspect of Danish assistance to Romania, which allows for the transfer of expertise in important areas such as EU policy-making, internal market, energy and agriculture. In addition Denmark accords assistance in the shape of Joint Implementation projects under the Kyoto protocol.
Notice that no more funds are available for pre-accession projects. As regard to Kyoto protocol projects visit the Danish Energy Agency's website.
Improving Romania’s ability to receive and benefit from international funds
Other projects aim at strengthening the administrative capacity of the Ministry of Public Finance to manage, monitor and co-finance the use of EU funds in the pre-accession period. By enabling the transfer of full implementation responsibility to Romanian authorities it is ensured that Romania actually benefits from funds, which could have otherwise been lost.
A similar project aims at providing key central and local personnel in the National Agency for Employment with better tools and techniques to manage, implement and monitor the European Social Fund.
Decentralization projectsLocal authorities play an important role in Romania’s modernization, including in the management of EU structural funds. One Danish project therefore aims at training local civil servants to train their peers in Project Cycle Management enabling local authorities to better manage and benefit from EU funds. The project is thus designed to achieve the widest possible dissemination of these competences. The project takes place in cooperation with the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration.
Another Danish project aims at improving the professional abilities of the local accountants in double entry accounting. The intended result is to improve the economic management techniques of local authorities. The project is run in cooperation with the Association of Communes and Association of Romanian Economic County Directors.
Danish authorities also support a project enabling the Federation of Local Authorities to offer consultancy services to their members as they strive to fulfil their role in Romania’s ongoing decentralization process. The project is executed in cooperation with the Danish Local Government Association. The Danish Local Government Association also provides expertise for a EU funded twinning project aimed at strengthening the financial autonomy of local authorities through continuation of fiscal and financial decentralization.
A final project aims at providing local police officers with conflict solving competences in cooperation with the Ministry of Administration and Interior and the Danish Centre for Conflict Resolution. Following the ‘training of trainers’ concept, the project aims at long-term sustainability and the widest possible dissemination of conflict resolution skills.
