Romania earmarks EUR 400mn for SMEs

A total of EUR 400mn will be available to Romanian short- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from 1 April, as the Start-Up Nation financing line enters a new phase thanks to an agreement with the European Commission (EC), Romanian European Investments and Projects Minister Adrian Caciu announced, news.ro reports. 

“After the negotiations with the EC, we obtained the agreement to finance the Start Up Nation programme‘s – 2024 phase, through the Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism Ministry,” Caciu wrote on Facebook on Saturday, 16 March. 

Caciu said this will achieve two objectives: the financing of Start Up Nation from European money, missed by Romania’s previous governments, and the decentralisation of the funds allocated to SMEs to his ministry, “which must gain top spot for the development of public policies and financing the economy”.

“Since the beginning of the year this has been a joint effort with my governmental colleague Stefan Radu Oprea, who I am convinced will bring this programme to a successful conclusion, as he did in the past,” Caciu added.

Startup Europe is an EC initiative for tech startups, supported by a portfolio of projects such as the EU Startup Nation Standard, Innovation Radar and the Digital Innovation and Scale-up Initiative, as part of the EU’s SME strategy.