Eyes on Romania: what to look when investing here?

In this paper we identify a framework of the main macroeconomic indicators an investor must look when investing in a country, depending on his activity business sector. Using a qualitative method of research on the Romanian case in period of 2000-2010, we establish that a series of leading indicators, as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate, inflation rate and industrial production, are appropriate to get a brief snapshot of the economic outlook of a country. The following period, since 2011 to 2014, confirm our results. Beside the traditional indicators, we set as significant the degree of business cycles synchronization with the European Union (EU) in order to predict the next path of the Romanian economy. We use a structural divergence index for assessing the similarity of economic structure between Romania and EU. The results of this study confirm that Romania lags behind EU, offering the possibility to decide the next step of an investor’s business strategy.foreign direct investment; leading indicators; business cycles synchronization

The Conservation of the Industrial Heritage: Theoretical Approaches and Territorial Experimentations in the Case of Anina (Romania)

In Anina (Romania), for more than 200 years, the mining industry shaped its territory leaving a rich legacy. Currently, forty-five objectives are officially acknowledged for their heritage value and listed on the Historic Monuments’ List and, therefore, safeguarded. Conversely, an overall strategy for their maintenance, preservation and enhancement is lacking. Moreover, shortly after the closure of the colliery in 2006, Anina became but a faded memory with the traces of its industries slowly disappearing, and, with them, also the community. Starting from 2014, the local administration initiated the cultural project “Anina, Mine of Ideas” (2014-2018) in collaboration with various actors of the civil society, focused on the post-industrial territorial revitalisation through the enhancement of the cultural heritage. This occurs in a national setting where the bottom-up initiatives of the civil society are the ones that manage to generate local and regional strategies and projects in the preservation field, especially in those fragile realities threatened by disappearance.The article intends to bring new insights in reference to Romanian preservation practice of the recent years through the particular case study of Anina, a former coal mine. It will look at the process of its official acknowledgement as heritage and to the recent initiatives that tackled this issue with direct impact on its overall perception, preservation and enhancement in a post-industrial setting. La conservazione del patrimonio industriale: approcci teorici e sperimentazioni territoriali nel caso di Anina (Romania)La città di Anina, posizionata nel sud-ovest della Romania, presenta un territorio profondamente trasformato dall’attività mineraria sviluppata con continuità per oltre 200 anni (1790-2006). Oltre quarantacinque testimonianze materiali di quest’attività industriale sono state riconosciute per il loro valore patrimoniale, prima della chiusura della miniera nel 2006, e, dunque, salvaguardate in base agli strumenti rumeni di tutela. Nonostante questa iniziativa, unica nel contesto rumeno, il patrimonio costruito di Anina presenta gravi segni di degrado materiale per la mancanza di una strategia generale mirata alla sua manutenzione, conservazione e valorizzazione. Allo stesso tempo, la comunità si è significativamente contratta con la dismissione delle industrie. In questo contesto, a partire dal 2014, varie associazioni culturali sostenute dall’amministrazione locale, hanno avviato il progetto culturale Anina, miniera dell’idea (2014-2018) mirato alla rivitalizzazione territoriale post-industriale attraverso la valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale. L’iniziativa rientra in quel sistema bottom-up sviluppatosi negli ultimi anni, grazie al quale esponenti della società civile promuovono, alla scala locale e regionale, strategie e progetti di intervento per la salvaguardia del patrimonio culturale, specialmente nei territoriali fragili a rischio di scomparsa. Con uno sguardo al più ampio contesto nazionale, l’articolo racconta queste esperienze attraverso il caso studio di Anina, dal processo di riconoscimento dei valori del sito fino alle esperienze di progetto per la conservazione e valorizzazione.In Anina (Romania), for more than 200 years, the mining industry shaped its territory leaving a rich legacy. Currently, forty-five objectives are officially acknowledged for their heritage value and listed on the Historic Monuments’ List and, therefore, safeguarded. Conversely, an overall strategy for their maintenance, preservation and enhancement is lacking. Moreover, shortly after the closure of the colliery in 2006, Anina became but a faded memory with the traces of its industries slowly disappearing, and, with them, also the community. Starting from 2014, the local administration initiated the cultural project “Anina, Mine of Ideas” (2014 – 2018) in collaboration with various actors of the civil society, focused on the post-industrial territorial revitalisation through the enhancement of the cultural heritage. This occurs in a national setting where the bottom-up initiatives of the civil society are the ones that manage to generate local and regional strategies and projects in the preservation field, especially in those fragile realities threatened by disappearance. The article intends to bring new insights in reference to Romanian preservation practice of the recent years through the particular case study of Anina, a former coal mine. It will look at the process of its official acknowledgement as heritage and to the recent initiatives that tackled this issue with direct impact on its overall perception, preservation and enhancement in a post-industrial setting

The French-American Relationship, its Impact on the UN and the Reshaping of International Intervention 1990-2011

The relationship between the us and France has profoundly affected the process of international intervention, use of force and humanitarian actions in the conflicts across the world since 1990. Military interventions and decision making in international affairs has been the result of the balance of powers inside the UN Security Council from the end of the Cold War onwards. From the peak of 9/11 to the low of the Iraq war the French-American relations have constantly kept the international agenda alive. With the changes in both the US and French administrations in the past 4 years, with the overall EU dynamic, as well as with the developments in MENA (Middle East-North Africa) in recent months, the interaction between those two main actors of the trans-Atlantic partnership, has gained new dimensions. The present paper attempts to analyze the consequences of the French-American relations of the past 2 decades on the UN system and on the legitimacy of international interventions

The Line between Peaceful Settlement of Disputes and the Use of Force in International Law

In this article, we attempt to analyze the evolution of a conflictual situation between at least two international parties, examining each stage involved, with focus on peaceful solutions. However, what we observe is that no all disputes can be resolved through the use of common peaceful means. Refusing to accept violet methods of international conflict resolution and expressing faith in human values, freedom and fundamental rights of people, we believe that, in cases like these, imposing peaceful coercive measures in order to restore cooperation between states, becomes necessary. These actions specifically, represent the subject of this paper. First and foremost, we must understand that the international system is not a stand-alone one, but one that has evolved over the years from tribes, empires and colonies, being at this moment composed of sovereign nation states, most of them allies as part of inter-governmental organizations. We are currently witnessing the creating of a new subject of international law - the European Union - which does not aim to become a national state, an inter-state organization, or a federation of states. It selectively combines the features of these, creating a whole new international entity, whose evolution is still unknown, but that will undoubtedly change the system certainly in a gradual manner. In the midst of all these transformations of the international world lie the differences between mentalities and human behavior, or maybe even the similarities between them. These get translated into conflicts and their resolution is intended to be as least invasive as possible, eventually leading to the development of legal instruments designed to protect the freedom and sovereignty of the parties involved

AGRICULTURE IN ROMANIA IN THE PROCESS OF INTEGRATION INTO EUROPEAN STRUCTURES DURING POST - ACCESSION

European Union and its Member States shall adjust some provisions of the development strategies aimed at increasing food production in sustainable ways, protecting natural resources and increase competitiveness of European agriculture on the world market. Romania faces imbalances in market conditions is not rationally use land particularly favorable to obtain a competitive agricultural supplies. Large annual variations in crop conditions in which the yields per hectare and per animal is about half the EU15 average does not provide the power necessary at affordable prices, especially for vulnerable population groups. Addressing structural and operational problems of the institutional system of agriculture in Romania\'s European integration process is an important way of overcoming the situations to which the elimination of disparities in economic development and social peace disturbed by high and rising prices of food, produced in quantities increasing imports. In the current international situation in which Romania difficulties in structural adjustment in agriculture and reduction of disparities compared to EU Member States, a national policy of granting real priorities for the sector is badly needed. These priorities cover both ways of achieving the overall objectives which fall within the strategic guidelines of the European Union and European integration meets the needs and solving specific national targets.European integration, rural development, agricultural policy, national objectives, agricultural holdings.

New approach of measurement methods and forms of tax policy effects in Romania

The complexity of decision making on taxes, determined by the evolution of economic variables, government objectives and the diversity of fiscal techniques used vary from country to country, therefore we can not define general concepts that are universally accepted or acceptable, regarding the effects generated by them. The effects of fiscal policy are varied, depending on their expression are microeconomic and macroeconomic effects, which are interrelated in the formation and modification of behavior of economic agents, both economically and socially, leading to psychological, economic, social, political, environmental and other effects, on different time horizons. Therefore, achieving a classification of the effects of tax policy is based almost impossible and difficult, requiring a large amount of knowledge, scientific insight and sound impressive volume of comments. The aim of this paper is to give a new classification criteria of the effects of taxation, following strictly the direction of evolution of variables, namely: economic effects, socio-economic effects and political effects.tax policy, measurement methods, tax incidence

Finantarea autoritatilor locale in Romania

This paper is trying to establish, in Romania, at macroeconomic level, quantitative and qualitative, relations between gross domestic product and governmental and local revenues.financing, local autonomy, evolution, econometric analysis

Applying Basel II Requirements in Romania

The Basel II Agreement is a new stage in the development of prudential regulations. Compared to the initial agreement, Basel I, this one allows a more large and precise analysis of banking risks. The European approach of Basel II requirements aims to offer some common conditions for all the credit institutions. Secondly, in order to achieve the objectives of Basel II, an active implication of the supervisory authorities is needed, as well as a tighter cooperation between them in order to increase the financial integration at the European Union level. In what concerns Romania, that has recently joined the European Union, the implementation of Basel II requirements imply a new series of challenges both for credit institutions and for the Central Bank. These challenges, for the commercial banks, reside in adjusting the risk management techniques and the informational system, training the staff, obtaining the databases, etc. and for the Central Bank in both adapting the surveillance process and elaborating new regulations. This paper tries to analyze the main implications of implementing these requirements, both for the Romanian commercial banks and for the National Bank.banking, prudential regulations, supervision, capital requirements

Cyclical convergence of Central and Eastern European countries to the Euro area core. New methodological approach

The current paper develops an analysis on the degree of business cycle convergence of the new member states of the EU towards the Euro area core (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) during 1996 – 2010.Unlike the previous research, the study takes into consideration the similarity of cycles, and not their synchronization. Furthermore, from the methodological point of view, it explores the use of survey indicators in the analysis of the cycles, thus in addition to the traditional approach that employs the GDP. The results obtained through clusterization show that the degree of convergence towards Euro area core remains modest

The Role of Urban Financial Centers within the Economy of Global Cities

Nowadays, there is no doubt that state economy refers to city economy. In other words, the most part of a state’s GDP is given by the urban environment, especially by capitals, which are often the economic engine of this environment. There are also cities having great economic importance abroad, beyond the state and even continental borders. These are the so-called global cities where the financial activities play an important role. There are a few cities (New York, London, Hong Kong etc.) centering financial activities which are influential for large geographic areas. This research highlights the importance of the financial sector within urban economy and, subsequently, how it consolidates the status of global city. These cities are the engine of the international financial system as they host the headquarters of the most important and famous international stock exchange markets, financial supervision institutions, law firms and consulting companies