ROMANIA
The Braila FLAG
Putting EMFF support to good use Fisheries Local Action Groups were an instrument initiated under Axis 4 of the European Fisheries Fund (2007-2013) to enable local ďŹ sheries communities to address the challenges they were facing by devising and implementing solutions of their own making. The initiative continues under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (2014-2020). In Braila county the Fisheries Local Action Group has implemented a number of projects that have contributed to the development of the ďŹ sheries area it represents.
T
he Danube flows through Braila, a county in Romania’s southeast, whose capital was once one of the most important ports on the Danube. Today Braila city is host to the Braila FLAG, a Fisheries Local Action Group that uses support from EU structural funds to improve the area it represents.
FLAG area expands in the 2014-2020 period The Braila Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) was established in 2011 by a group representing the local communes, associations, business representatives, private companies, and others. For the 2014-2020 programming period the FLAG expanded in terms of the number of members and the geographical area it represented. Braila county comprises 40 communes and the municipality of Braila city, the county capital. During the 2007-13 programming period the Braila FLAG represented a quarter of the communes, a figure that expanded to 40 under the 2014-20 period. This area included that part of the municipality of Braila city that bordered the Danube. The establishment of a FLAG is contingent upon its local development strategy being approved by the management authority. This document provides a roadmap to the objectives the FLAG aims to achieve. The FLAG issues a call for project
Andrei Horyea and Florica Neagu from the Braila FLAG have more project proposals then there is currently funding for. A reallocation of funds later in the period may change this for the better.
applications which are evaluated against the criteria described in the strategy.
Smart hotel emerges from ruined building In 2013 and 2014 the Braila FLAG launched six calls for proposals that resulted in 27 approved projects, some of which were highly concrete such as the creation of infrastructure, or support for the diversification of activities, while others were somewhat woollier, such as efforts to promote local identity. One of the more striking projects was the conversion
of an old ruined building in the middle of the historical part of the city into a modern hotel. Many of these buildings stem from the 19th century, when the city was a wealthy and cosmopolitan centre of trade and commerce. Vulpe Gheorghe, a dentist by profession, who owned the building recognised its potential and applied to
Braila FLAG
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Braila county total
Programming period
2007-2013
2014-2020
Communes
10
16
40
Â
Area (sq. km)
1,861
2,578
4,766
Population
87,054
115,411
304,925
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the FLAG for support to convert it in to a modern hotel. While the connection between a smart hotel and the FLAG may seem tenuous at first glance, Nistor Ionut, a consultant, who assisted with the application, explains that the FLAG had two principles, to encourage the development of the local fishing activity and of
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