Jiu Valley could benefit from special European funds in the next financial year 2021-2027, through allocations of Integrated Territorial Investment, which currently only applies to the Danube Delta, Roxana Mînzatu, the interim minister of European Funds, said on Friday.

“I am a supporter of ITIs, Integrated Territorial Investment, this mechanism that Romania applies only in the Danube Delta. Namely, the well-defined, homogeneous territories that also have specific needs and for which, based on a development strategy for this territory and based on a local structure, an intra-community development association that governs the territory, is allocated European money from the operational programs dedicated to that territory,” said Mînzatu, in a conference.

According to her, the projects are financed within a local competition, that is, out of the total amount of money for that territory, a part goes to the respective project, and the region manages to reach its targets without being in competition with the rest of the country, according to Agerpres. “Today we have this type of ITI approach only in the Danube Delta. For the year 2021-2027 we are trying to have at least one other territory with this approach, this is the Jiu Valley, for which we have prepared ourselves, but we want to include other territories in Romania, because there are areas that need such dedicated funding,” the interim minister said.