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The European growth model set out by the European Commission is founded on a dual transition, to green and digital. Although the transition to the new growth model requires an in-depth analysis of the transformations that will affect industry in its main branches and the energy system in particular, the social and employment aspects must not be ignored, in order to ensure that the twin transitions are fair and inclusive and have a substantive contribution to strengthening the Union’s social resilience and the prosperity of all citizens. Taking as a starting point the fact that the green transition will have direct impacts on the labor market, affecting, as emphasized by the European institutions, primarily workers who already have a vulnerable status, this chapter aims to analyze the topic of employment gender gap, highlighting those aspects that could be aggravated during the green transition. The analysis was carried out on relevant statistical data for the Romanian labor market, which were projected on EU27 data.

The European Commission has established the reference value of the social discount rate (SDR) to be used in the cost-benefit analysis according to the subdivision of the states relating to the beneficiaries of the Cohesion Fund. This criterion does not allow to adequately consider the economic, social and environmental conditions of each European states for ensuring an equitable and inclusive growth. The aimof the work is to provide an innovative methodology for assessing the “adjusted” SDR according to the socioeconomic and environmental conditions that differently affect the sustainable development of each European state.

Through the implementation of a methodological approach that consists of ordered and sequential phases and the synergic adoption of the Multi-Criteria Techniques with the Data Envelopment Analysis, a corrective coefficient of the SDR established by the European Commission is determined.

The results obtained for the 27 European states highlight how the different conditions of each of them could affect the correct choice of the SDR to be used in the Cost-Benefit Analysis.

The proposed research represents a useful reference for identifying national reference SDR values for each European state, consistent with its specificities and with the goals of inclusive growth of the countries and of social and territorial cohesion. Furthermore, the traceability of the methodology in its phases will allow to adapt the SDR to sudden events or exogenous shocks.

The European Union (EU) is providing a wide range of instruments to its members in implementing a green, resilient economy. These instruments are not designed only for governments and state representatives but also for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The ability of those two-targeted audiences to understand and adopt these instruments, as well as their way to react and profit from the EU-stated drives, determines one’s country capacity to absorb European funding and create economic growth. The present chapter proposes a presentation of the new European model for economic growth and of the advantages proposed with the European Green Deal, the European proposal to the world for a resilient, adaptable, and environmentally friendly economy.

Under the circumstances of the accelerated technological advance and the overlapping of various global crises in the recent years, one of the main strategic priorities of the European Union in medium and long terms consists of building resilient regional and local communities which implies the aim to protect citizens against the impact of climate changes. Considering the essential role of the human capital in this endeavor, this chapter aims to investigate the relationship between human resources and economic development focusing a SWOT analysis in the case of Romania taking into account recent developments and trends of the European and global labor market related to various aspects induced by the green transition. The analysis of the structural demo-economic characteristics of Romania’s population revealed a decline of the total population, against the background of negative demographic and net migration, the increase in the average and median age of the total population, the rise in demographic and economic dependency ratios representing serious challenges for the development strategy on short, medium and long terms. To these, increasing quantitative and qualitative shortages in the labor market are added, which complicate the advancement of the green transition in Romania. In the conclusions of this chapter, strategic milestones on policies and measures in the short, medium and long terms at macroeconomic and labor market levels are proposed.

The ambition of human rights-based research is to generate an evidence base aligned to specific rights and rights holders. This chapter addresses the question ‘How does the ethical communication of research evidence support the achievement of this ambition?’ It outlines a Communication of Evidence For Impact (CEFI) approach that is focused on the realisation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). CEFI proposes that human rights-based communication is: a public good; a legal imperative in States that have ratified CRPD, and a moral imperative in States yet to sign or ratify; a core research competency and ethical requirement; participatory; and grounded in a culture of inclusion, intersectionality, and allyship. This chapter explores how five actors – States, research ethics committees, researchers, funders, and publishers – can each contribute to ethical communication. Recommendations are made for including and futureproofing CEFI in a disability research ethics framework.

Youth unemployment is one of the crucial problems facing modern society. Although the findings of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and European Commission (EC) suggest that around 40% of young people are interested in starting their own business after finishing formal education, current studies indicate that the entrepreneurial potential of young people is still underutilized. The analysis of the trend of youth unemployment in the countries of the European Union (EU) in the period from 2009 to 2022 conducted in this chapter gave a clear insight into the decreasing tendency of youth unemployment from 15 to 29 years of age in the last 10 years. However, although there is a tendency for the youth unemployment rate to fall, it is still significantly higher than the unemployment of other age categories. Further analysis carried out in this chapter was related to testing three trend models on a selected data set on youth unemployment. The most precise measures, mean absolute deviation (MAD) and adjusted R², unequivocally indicated the selection of the quadratic trend model as the most appropriate for the observed data set, given that the MAD value was the lowest (444.55) and the adjusted R² coefficient was the highest (81.88%). Furthermore, through a comparative analysis of the linear and quadratic trend models, the authors predicted youth unemployment in the coming period and concluded that by applying the estimated equations of both trend models, a further decline in youth unemployment in the EU could be expected.

This chapter in its first part analyzes the Leader approach in terms of concept, constituent elements, application, and its contribution to rural development and rural entrepreneurship. In the continuation of the text, authors analyze the application of this approach in Serbia, looking at the activities of the ministry in charge and the views of local action groups (LAGs)’ managers on this matter. The aim of this chapter is to present the results and problems Serbia has seen so far in the implementation of the Leader approach for development of rural areas on a local level. The results indicate that the lack of systemic and continuous state support resulting, among other things, in the lack of a financial portfolio for the LAGs, is the main cause of low local entrepreneurial initiatives and projects implemented within the Leader approach. Future steps in the implementation of this approach in Serbia will depend on financial support for the LAGs from all levels of government, as well as from the possibility of using funds within the EU pre-accession assistance for rural development. Also, it will be necessary to launch larger innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives both by LAGs’ managers and all stakeholders involved in local rural development.

The global energy transition is a process without historical experience that affects all participants in the technological chain of energy management, citizens and business entities. This increasingly dynamic process is aimed at decarbonisation of the entire economy, social stability and human well-being. We are witnessing the rapid development of more energy-efficient technologies, clean energy sources and stricter rules regarding the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The data clearly show changes in the Earth’s climate system. Their consequences represent the most urgent threat to the longevity of tourism, which is one of the five most threatened economic sectors. At the same time, tourism continues to have a significant contribution to climate change due to growing GHG emissions, primarily from transport and accommodation facilities.

This chapter seeks to provide an overview of the drivers of GHG emissions and societal responses aimed at addressing tourism-related carbon emissions. It also offers an overview of climate and energy public policies and possible solutions towards a net-zero carbon future for the tourism industry. The purpose of this review is to empower tourism practitioners with current knowledge funded in global and European decarbonisation strategies and encourage them to reflect and create a new and more effective solution.

In July 2021, the European Commission has proposed a set of conjunct initiatives to reform the antimoney laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulatory regime in Europe with the main aims to (i) harmonize the AML/CFT regulation and (ii) centralize the authority to a higher degree at European Union (EU) level. This paper aims to assess the reform in light of the EU subsidiarity principle.

The paper uses a benchmark approach to compare the proposed EU money laundering reform against Article 5(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

The paper confirms that more centralized decision-making at EU level in this policy area is justified, mainly because (i) the policy area is not an area where the EU has exclusive competence, (ii) EU centralized action is necessary and (iii) it also adds value, for instance, for level playing field and efficiency considerations as long as local information advantage will not be lost. As such, the subsidiarity principle can be applied and is an adequate tool to legitimize EU centralized action in the field of money laundering combat.

As the EU AML regulatory reform has not yet been sufficiently discussed in light of the subsidiarity principle, the article is of innovative nature.

This chapter starts by reviewing four broad regulatory approaches that exemplified state-of-the-art in major jurisdictions: market-driven approach (the United States), state-driven approach (China), rights-driven approach (the European Union) and innovation-driven approach (the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR). This chapter then examines possible regulatory updates with regards to walled gardens and shadow banking, the first two of the challenges first identified in Chapter 3. The next two chapters will then examine possible regulatory updates to address the remaining challenges identified.