The total amount of grants that Romania has received from the European Union during its 18 years of membership reached the amount of 100 billion euros in January 2025, the Romanian news site Ziare reports, BTA reports.
This comes against the backdrop of statements by presidential candidate Calin Georgescu, who stated that Romania does not need the EU for its development.
In an interview with Moldovan journalist Natalia Morari, Georgescu said that countries in Europe can develop better outside the EU. He was asked about the comment by Romanian MEP Siegfried Mureșan that if pro-Russian parties win the parliamentary elections, the Republic of Moldova could lose 1.9 billion euros in EU aid. Morari, who is against sanctions against Russia, asked Georgescu if this was not blackmail by the EU.
“You join an association to help each other in the name of a common ideal. But we don't see that here - I'm talking about the EU. When we analyze the situation, both the advantages and the disadvantages are clearly visible“, Georgescu said. He also spoke of “nationalization“, explaining that what is meant is the return of all the country's resources, especially those in the hands of large corporations, to the Romanian people.“
“We can develop on our own, we can develop even better when we talk about the countries in Europe“, added the former presidential candidate who won the first round of the annulled presidential elections last year.“
“Who cares about this money (European money) when you have everything at home? (...) Our land, to be clear, we did not receive it as a gift from Brussels or Washington. We received it as a gift from God through the power of love“, said Georgescu, quoted by the Hotnews website.
Against this backdrop, the economic website Profit.ro quoted the Minister of Investments and European Projects, Marcel Bolos, who stressed that EU funds have significantly changed the structure of the national economy and transformed it from an economic periphery into a country that is rapidly catching up.
“Since 2007, we have observed an increase in GDP by more than 3.6 times, surpassing countries such as Poland, Hungary, Croatia and Greece in terms of GDP per capita - a key indicator for assessing living standards. Investments from European funds can be seen everywhere“, said the minister.
In January 2025, Romania received 1.37 billion from European funds euros, with the total amount of EU funds since the country's accession reaching 100.65 billion euros. Over the same period, Romania has contributed about 33 billion euros to the EU budget, Ziare reports.
Among the achievements of these European funds are the construction of nearly 900 km of motorways and expressways over the past two decades, the connection of over 3 million Romanians to the sewage system and the provision of grants to over 100,000 Romanian companies.
“It is clear that today's Romania would not be the same without these strategic investments, which have become the basis of our economic development“, said Minister of Investments and European Projects Marcel Bolos.
The information site Hotnews notes that Georgescu spoke with the “controversial“ Moldovan journalist Natalia Morari, about whom in 2021 a scandal erupted over her relationship with oligarch Vyacheslav Platon, accused of complicity in the theft of one billion dollars from Moldovan banks. Morari, who was a candidate for president of the Republic of Moldova last year, received 0.61 percent of the vote, Hotnews recalls.