European Commissioner Roxana Minzatu said on Wednesday, within the launch conference of the project called „Provision of integrated services in rural communities – facilitating access of vulnerable people to efficient and quality basic services,” held in the village of Sintesti, Ialomita County, that the project will be „transformative for Romanian village,” being one of the most important EU-funded initiatives in Romania.
„On behalf of the European Commission, I am here to say that the entire European Union stands with Romania in this transformation, which we want to offer to the most vulnerable, our fellow citizens in greatest need. This is, if I am not mistaken, the third-largest project in terms of value, we are talking about a support of 677 million euros from the European Social Fund Plus. It is a very important project for the European Union, for the European Commission, the success we wish for Romania is also a success for Europe. It will be a transformative project for the Romanian village. There are 2,800 communes, we will see if all 2,800 remain in Romania in the future, but this project aims to reach 2,000 communes, covering nearly half a million Romanians,” Roxana Minzatu said.
Roxana Minzatu also underscored the project’s importance for combating poverty and social exclusion in rural areas, highlighting the essential role of community teams that will provide direct support to vulnerable people.
„This is a project that addresses one of Romania’s critical problems: poverty. We are a country with a high risk of social exclusion, especially in rural areas. It is very important that every community has such a team capable of offering guidance and support to those in need for everything that means social services, medical assistance, finding employment and other issues important to vulnerable people, including school enrollment, a hot meal. All these things depend on this fantastic project you have launched,” Roxana Minzatu also added.
The European Commissioner also pointed out that the project’s success depends on human resources and the authorities’ capacity to implement sustainable community services in each commune included in the programme.
„It will be difficult. It is difficult. I have seen over 20 years what it takes to carry out strategic, systemic projects. First, it is a major challenge to find the people who are part of these integrated community teams, to recruit them, pay them, train them, retain them, keep them motivated. The effort is colossal. It is very important to have a very good strategy in order to ensure the success of this project. This project, running until 2029, is both a great challenge and an opportunity to demonstrate concretely that we are changing the paradigm, delivering integrated community services,” the European Commissioner explained.
The European official mentioned that the project introduces a new, simplified and de-bureaucratised funding mechanism, which will support activities based on results rather than on intermediate supporting documents.
The project is co-financed by the European Union through the Inclusion and Social Dignity Programme 2021-2027 and is set to run from January 2025 to December 2029. It is implemented by the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Health and the National Agency for Payments and Social Inspection (ANPIS) and aims to increase social inclusion and reduce poverty.
The launching event took place in the village of Sintesti, Boranesti commune, Ialomita County, in the presence of the Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dragos Pislaru, representatives from the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Health and local authorities. AGERPRES
