EAR-AER Romania was launched on 9 May 2016 with a conference on “Regional Development Prospects of the Centru Region”, hosted by Mrs. Adriana ISPAS, General Secretary of the Commerce and Industry Chamber Brasov and having the financial support of the Flemish Government.
In his welcoming address, Mr. Nelu Neacsu underlined the importance of 9 May, Europe Day, and explained what EAR-AER stands for and which contributions it could make to the regional development efforts in Romania.
Mr. Louis Delcart spoke about regional development, insisting on the resilience of a new generation of young Romanian entrepreneurs and on new sources of entrepreneurship that appear in Romania, such as the untapped entrepreneurial potential of women. His presentation tackled the question “Is a European regional approach fruitful when it comes to developing economy and employment”?
An aspect of the operational work of EAR-AER was presented by Mrs. Silvia-Daniela Pohrib, who presented the association ‘Support’, which assists start-ups.
The keynote speaker, Mr. Cristi Danileţ, judge, member of Superior Council of Magistracy, explained the tribunals’ efforts to tackle public corruption in Romania. Moreover, he presented his efforts invested in bringing legal education to the young generation, through a manual he published very recently and through conferences given in schools all over the country.
Mr. Danileţ insisted also on the fact that not only was public corruption harming the efficient development of the country, also the widely spread corruption in the private sector harmed deeply the image of Romania in the European business environment.
Mr. Danilet was asked about anti-corruption policies and steps taken by Romania to improve legislative mechanisms/ internal control, since last year’s EAR-AER conference on this topic in Brussels, as well as about the most effective tools for preventing and combating corruption, taking into consideration EU policies and the situation in other Member States.
He was further invited to answer questions about the methodologies that can be used in order to tackle entrenched types of corruption, such as political corruption, bribery of public officials and private-to-private corruption.
Dr. Ionica Oncioiu made a presentation on the new rules in European subsidies, such as the European Fund for Regional Development, the Interreg V scheme and the Horizon 2020 projects.
Mrs. Sorina Blejan, Project Manager of Europe Enterprise Network, closed the event, explaining the benefits of its worldwide partnership system for SME’s.