Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 26th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview I. Working Group on Local Government Author(s) Anca Monica Marin Research Institute for Quality of Life Bucuresti Romania Title Learning to win: The Case of European-funded Projects for the Romanian Rural Municipalities File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Anca Monica Marin Abstract This paper examines the case of Romanian rural municipalities who succeeded in absorbing the highest volume of European funds per capita in the period of 2009-2015. The paper defines the absorption of European funds as a case of attracting financial resources from the external environment, therefore as a case of organizational effectiveness for public organizations. Absorption capacity at the organizational level is measured in terms of volume of European funds attracted per inhabitant in the period of 2009-2015. The topic of European funds is especially relevant for a better service delivery, in particular as a large part of the EU funds in the rural area of Romania have been directed towards improved citizens’ quality of life. The results of the analysis are based on a secondary analysis of the local budgets execution database, for the period of 2009-2015, covering all rural municipalities from Romania. The study analyses the role of territorial distribution, fiscal capacity, size of the organization, size of the locality, previous experience in European funded projects as well as local level of human development.
