ROMANIA'S ANSWER TO THE NEW DIRECTIONS OF THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY OF EUROPEAN UNION

The regional development policy of European Union deals with spatial localisation of production and affects the daily life of more than half of the 500 million persons living in the European Union. Conceived at European level as a solidarity policy, it bases especially on financial solidarity through the distribution of a part of the European budget obtained through the contribution of Member States to the less prosper social categories and regions. Regional development policy of European Union for the programming period 2007- 2013 is based on the diversity, opportunities and challenges offered by the regions in Europe. It puts into practice the solidarity between European nations and focuses on a fundamental objective: strengthening the economic, social and territorial cohesion through diminishing the development discrepancies between its regions. The present paper identifies the new directions of the European regional development policy and aims to highlight the importance of this policy for the economic growth and development of Romania. In this difficult period, when Romania felt the effects of the crisis at high level and met a severe economic congestion, the European sources of financing through the regional development policy must not be neglected. We also formulate recommendations in order to increase Romania's structural funds absorption rate.