INTEGRATED TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT IN ROMANIA. WHAT DOES INTEGRATION MEAN ?

Territorial development is a central topic within the European Union's Cohesion Policy and an important pillar for its agenda for employment and growth. To this end, the EU deploys important resources, be it in the form of dedicated programs (e.g. urban development), be it through introducing a territorial dimension to many other areas of intervention (e.g. transport policy, environmental policy, energy policy etc.). Given the high diversity of approaches, developing an integrated territorial development model becomes crucial in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. The aim of this paper is to have a closer look at various attempts to define the dimensions of an integrated territorial development model. Meanwhile, our study is meant to assess the level of integration in the use of structural funds 2007 - 2014 at the municipality level in Romania. We therefore operationalize the integrated approach as the capacity of a territory to attract funds from various programmes, as well as to involve various actors in this process. Using the number of projects attracted by public authorities, companies and NGOs from five operational programmes financed through stuctural funds 2007-2014, we developed an index that allows comparisons in the performances of Romanian municipalities. Conclusions are meant to highlight the benefits of integration and future prospects for the next programming period (2014 - 2020).