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1. How Youth policy is funded

2. What is funded?

3. Financial accountability

4. Use of EU Funds

How Youth policy is funded

As of January 2022, the institution responsible to the budget for the youth policy is the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities. Part of this budget is allocated to administrative and staff costs for the Ministry and for the County Offices for Family and Youth. This part of the budget cannot be separated from the allocations for other family and equal opportunities programmes and an exact figure cannot be evaluated as funding for the youth policy. The same situation hindered the evaluation of the funding for youth policy when the youth policy was under the responsibility of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the youth and sports budgetary allocations were combined, until December 2021.

The budgets for the four framework youth programmes planned until 2022 have been separated and available on the platform including budget related data published on the website of the Ministry of Finances.

In 2022 the budget expenditure for the youth programmes was as following:

• For the Youth Centres’ activities of the County Offices for Youth and Sport: 600 000 lei (about 120 000 Euro) 
• For the youth programme, including the National Youth Projects’ competition and the youth projects implemented by the Ministry: 4.8 million lei (about 0.96 million Euro) 
• For the student support programme, including the National Students Projects’ competition and the projects targeting to students implemented by the Ministry: 2.4 million lei (about 0.48 million Euro) 
• For youth and students camps: 2.8 million lei (about 0.56 million Euro)
• For the youth research programme: 200 000 lei (about 40 000 Euro)
• For the preparation and planning of large investments in the infrastructure of youth and students’ camps: 6.44 million lei (about 1.3 million Euro) 

In 2023, the budget for the program including the support of youth and students’ activities, projects and research was 28.65 million lei (about 5,73 million Euro). In 2024 the approved budget for the same programme is 71.83 million lei (about 14.36 million Euro), but the 2024 programme includes some measures of support for young families, complementing the funding for youth and students projects, camps and research.

According to the Youth Law, local communities (local and county councils) have to allocate local budget for local youth policies and activities, based on the consultation of the local youth civil society. However, there are not aggregated data on the level of budgets allocated at local level for youth local policies and no legal threshold on the allocation for youth activities at local level.

What is funded?

The Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities (and the Ministry of Youth and Sport, until December 2021) implemented four framework programmes every year: a programme supporting Youth Centres, a programme supporting youth projects, a programme supporting student projects and a programme for youth research. A programme of support for youth and students’ camps was added to these programmes every year. Since 2023 a single programme was planned and funded by the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities for the support of youth and students’ activities, projects and research.

The budget is also financing the functioning the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities, its offices at county level and the 15 Students Cultural Houses/Centres organised in the most important university towns in the country. However, due to the limitations exposed above, there is not possible to estimate the budget allocated only for youth policy among other elements funded by the Ministry.

Financial accountability

The Romanian Court of Accounts is the public body to which all public institution are accountable for their use of public funding. The Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities is audited annually and the Romanian Court of Accounts can control private institutions (including NGOs receiving grants for their youth projects from the Ministry) for the use of public grants received. The mission of the Romanian Court of Accounts is to conduct the control function over the way state and public sector financial resources are established, managed and used. It subsequently provides the Parliament, authorities, public institutions and taxpayers with reports on the sound use and management, so as to ensure economy, efficiency and effectiveness. Taking actions according to the recommendations of the Court of Accounts is mandatory for any institution or organisation spending public money.

Use of EU Funds

The EU funds used for youth policy are mainly the funds of Erasmus Plus programme - the field of Youth. The evaluations of the European Social Fund (ESF) programmes in Romania (as presented in section 1.4 Youth policy decision-making, point 4. Policy monitoring and evaluation) show that ESF had been mainly used for scholarships, trainings and active measures for employment (counselling, employment mediation etc.) and for projects aiming at preventing school dropouts, but they have not been focused on other youth policy areas.

Since 2021, the Ministry of Youth and Sports started the implementation of large EU funded projects for the education and employment of young NEETs. Although the funding for these projects is part of the Ministry budget and was transferred to the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities in 2022, it is contributing more to the youth employment component of the youth policy and is reported under chapter 3 of Youth Wiki. The projects are not contributing to the overall development, implementation and coordination of the youth policy.

Under Erasmus Plus, the main activities had been organised, until 2021, for the organisation of the EU Youth Dialogue in Romania, including the national events and the transnational and international activities that offers the space for information and also for debates having as theme active youth participation, opening up a dialogue space with the decision makers. The reunions, seminars and information events, as well as the debates involving both young people and decision makers are also notable activities that aim at boosting up youth participation in the development and implementation of youth policies. Within Erasmus Plus, the Romanian participants were part of training courses and international activities tackling the theme of active youth participation.

The number of Erasmus Plus projects funded in Romania is as follows:

• In 2022, for Key Action (KA) 1, the number of submitted applications increased by 30% compared to 2021, reaching a total of 459 applications (33 KA151, 263 KA152, 97 KA153, 56 KA154 and 10 KA155); 186 projects were awarded a grant (33KA151, 89 KA152, 32 KA153 and 24 KA154 and 8 KA155). For the KA150, 30 new applications were received and 8 were awarded the accreditation. For KA154, the number of received application increased by 60 % allowing the Agency to grant 24 projects, scored above 60 points. For KA155, 10 applications were submitted and eight were granted. Concerning the cooperation with Third Countries, 1295 participants were granted, 22 non accredited projects were awarded (12 YE and 10 mobilities of YW). Out of a total of 33 accredited granted projects, 12 were project involving activities with third countries. Overall, the initial budgetary allocation for youth mobility projects (KA151, KA152, KA153) involving activities with third countries was 16% from the available budget. In total, 12899 participants were awarded out of which 10485 learners and 2232 staff-youth workers. For Key Action (KA) 2, 50% more application were submitted in 2022 compared to 2021, reaching a total number of191 applications (75 KA220 and 116 KA210). 34 projects were awarded a grant. 
• In 2021, for KA1, 353 applications (23 KA151, 217, KA152, 78 KA153, 35 KA154) were received and 115 were awarded (23 KA151, 54 KA152, 18 KA153 and 20 KA154), with a success rate of 27%. The 72 non accredited awarded projects were scored between 87-70p (projects involving activities with Programme Countries) and between 82p and 71 p (projects involving activities with 3rd Countries). For KA154, 20 projects awarded were scored between 96 and 60p; 144 applications were submitted by newcomers and 42 were granted. Concerning the cooperation with Partner Countries, 1207 participants were granted, 12 non accredited projects were awarded), with a budgetary allocation of 19.754% from the available budget for KA152 and KA153. 13 accredited projects involve activities with 3rd countries with an initial budgetary allocation of 25.86 % from the available budget for KA151. Overall, the budgetary allocation for YOU for activities with 3rd countries was 22.51% from the available budget. Key Action (KA) 2, 66 KA210 projects and 62 KA220 projects were submitted. Seven KA210 projects (R1) and 30 KA220 projects were approved, representing a 51.38% success rate compared to only 9,2% in 2020. 
• In 2020, 24 youth mobility projects (out of 35 applications), 26 strategic projects (out of 195 applications) and seven projects of youth dialogue
• In 2019, 19 projects have been implemented under Key Action 1 - learning mobilities in the field of youth, with 8 115 participants for a total of 4.8 million Euro; 18 strategic projects in the field of youth have been implemented with a total funding of 2.3 million Euro;
• In 2018 in Romania, 150 projects (out of 844 applications) have been funded under the Youth component of the Erasmus+ programme, Key Action 1, mobility projects; 10 projects of Strategic Partnership in the field of Youth (out of 96 applications) and 4 projects of dialogue with young people (out of 38 applications) have been also funded in 2018. 

Overall, 95.5% of the participants in youth mobility projects have been highly satisfied with the experience according to the Study on the perceptions of students and professors regarding the international mobility programmes conducted in 2019.