The regional development of Romania in 2014-2020 should rely on the lessons learned from the 2007-2013 period. In this wider context, the paper analyses the effects of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) provided within the 2007-2013 programme focusing on the development of the economic competitiveness, on the large enterprises from the North-East region of Romania. Three hypotheses are tested within this empirical research. First, that the EU financial assistance granted to a large enterprise implies an increase in its net turnover, gross profit and number of staff. Second, we aim to see whether the increase in the net turnover, gross profit and number of staff is directly linked to the increase of the ERDF grant. Finally, we analyse if the increase of the three indicators is higher for the large enterprises that implemented more projects than for the enterprises that implemented a single project. The analysis also puts under discussion the quality and the availability of the information concerning the projects funded by the European Union in Romania, taking also into consideration the 2014-2020 e-cohesion requirement.