November 29 (SeeNews) - The European Commission said on Thursday it has approved a 3.68 billion euro ($5.42 billion) funding to Romania to help the new European Union member boost employment.
The two programmes, co-funded by Romania's government and the EU through the European Social Fund (ESF), aim to help people become more skilled to increase their chances of finding a job or staying in work, the Commission said in a statement.
The programmes also focuses on improving public services and creating a more efficient and effective public administration in the country. Special effort will be made to improve public services and achieve a more efficient and effective public administration.
The ESF provides over 10 billion euro a year across the EU. At the end of the new funding period, 2007-2013, the EU will have contributed some 75 billion euro to the 27 member states.
In Romania the ESF-funded Operational Programmes will be receiving a combined total of EU and national co-funding of 4.33 billion euro over the next seven years.
Romania joined the bloc in January and stands to receive 19.67 billion euro by 2013 from EU structural and cohesion funds.
($ = 0.6787 euro)