On 13 May 2025, Romanian students took part in a consultation exploring how living near a border influences education, infrastructure, and cooperation opportunities. The discussion revealed both optimism about the benefits of cross-border life and frustration with institutional barriers that limit young people\u2019s access to European opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a clear consensus among participants<\/strong> that living near a border is an advantage<\/strong>. They highlighted benefits such as easier access to cross-border job and education opportunities<\/strong>, allowing people to expand their choices and experiences<\/strong>. Students also appreciated the ability to travel frequently and at low cost<\/strong>, often taking advantage of cultural events, shopping, and services in neighboring countries<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Participants identified two main areas where cooperation is urgently needed<\/strong>: education and infrastructure<\/strong>. They emphasized the importance of better-equipped schools<\/strong>, more educational opportunities<\/strong>, especially in rural or underserved areas<\/strong>, and greater access to non-formal learning<\/strong>. On the infrastructure side, they pointed to poor road conditions<\/strong>, limited public transport<\/strong>, and outdated facilities<\/strong> that hinder both daily life and economic development<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked about Interreg or EU-funded initiatives<\/strong>, none of the participants were able to name any relevant projects. Moreover, there was a general lack of awareness about European programmes<\/strong> such as DiscoverEU<\/strong>, Erasmus+<\/strong>, or the European Solidarity Corps<\/strong>. This pointed to a serious communication gap<\/strong> between institutions and young people at the local level. Participants agreed that more accessible, youth-targeted information<\/strong> is needed to increase engagement with EU-funded opportunities, including Interreg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In discussing barriers to cooperation, participants unanimously mentioned infrastructure<\/strong> as the most significant challenge. Poor road and rail connections<\/strong>, particularly in rural areas, were seen as limiting mobility, economic exchange, and collaboration<\/strong>. Additionally, several students criticized the bureaucratic inefficiency of public institutions<\/strong>, arguing that administrative complexity discourages international partnerships<\/strong> and undermines trust in cross-border cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When imagining their \u201cdream projects,\u201d<\/strong> students proposed concrete and future-oriented ideas. One suggested building a highway between Bra\u0219ov and Ploie\u0219ti<\/strong> to improve regional connectivity and reduce travel time. Another envisioned a modern hospital<\/strong> to provide accessible and high-quality healthcare. Others focused on rural development<\/strong>, proposing projects to equip remote areas with essential infrastructure\u2014roads, utilities, and internet access<\/strong>. A particularly forward-thinking idea involved creating a solar panel farm<\/strong> to promote sustainability and regional energy independence<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On 13 May 2025, Romanian students took part in a consultation exploring how living near a border influences education, infrastructure, and cooperation opportunities. The discussion revealed both optimism about the benefits of cross-border life and frustration with institutional barriers that limit young people\u2019s access to European opportunities. There was a clear consensus among participants that living near a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"1080","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yodec.rotineret.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yodec.rotineret.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yodec.rotineret.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yodec.rotineret.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yodec.rotineret.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yodec.rotineret.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283,"href":"https:\/\/yodec.rotineret.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions\/283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yodec.rotineret.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yodec.rotineret.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yodec.rotineret.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yodec.rotineret.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}