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European Commissioner Cretu: Valea Jiului is receiving special attention under initiative supporting coal regions
European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu stated on Thursday in Petrosani, on the occasion of the conference "Romanian Coal Regions in energy transition," that Valea Jiului is receiving a special attention under an initiative meant to support coal regions, a project seeking alternative solutions to mining areas.
She showed, during the debates, that Valea Jiului is one of Europe's mining regions with the most employees, mentioning also that the projects eligible for receiving European funds must be identified together with the local authorities.
"I started to discuss this matter with the Romanian Government, with Mrs. Minister Plumb, who leads the working group within the Romanian Government, ever since the beginning of the year, after this initiative was launched in Strasbourg. I thank Romania for accepting the invitation to participate in this pilot project. We are talking of 41 coal regions in the EU, in 12 member states, but for 5 of them we believe that we need a medium and long-term strategy for a sustainable economic and social development in the future," the European Commissioner told a press conference held after the meeting in Petrosani.
She showed that the European funds needed for developing the mining regions where coal mines are to be close will be made available via the operational programmes.
"European funds will become available through the operational programmes supporting this (this mining areas - editor's note). I am proud to see that, due to the cohesion policy, Valea Jiului already benefited from a lot of money - 2.5 billion euros in 2007-2013, the Hunedoara County and the cities in Valea Jiului. And there are also other ongoing projects concerning the water infrastructure and the sewerage, modernization of the transport infrastructure, thermal rehabilitation of the buildings," said Corina Cretu, with respect to the situation of Valea Jiului and Hunedoara County.
European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu and Minister of European Funds Rovana Plumb participated on Thursday in Petrosani in the conference "Romanian Coal Regions in energy transition," an event organized by the National Trade Union Confederation MERIDIAN and the trade unions of Valea Jiului.