Rethinking the territorial pact in the context of European territorial cohesion

The authors argue through this paper, the importance of rethinking the recently abandoned tools that can be reactivated in times of crisis. EU 2020 Strategy and other EU documents create a favorable frame in order to achieve the priorities set by reconsidering the territorial pact concept. Recent documents define the partnership agreement concept, which seems to be more rigid and less flexible than the territorial pact. Having as a starter point Romania’s specifics, there are individualized 10 thematic territorial pacts and 8 global pacts. They must generate territorial synergies capable of ensuring the coherence between regions, states and the European Union as a whole

The territorial configurations of employment and lifelong learning

The ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’ was issued in 2010 by the European Commission. This document constitutes a growth scheme for the decade 2010-2020 that aims to help the European Union to emerge from the current crisis through the so-called smart, sustainable and inclusive dimensions of growth. In this context, the basic aim of the SIESTA (“Spatial Indicators for a ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’ Territorial Analysis”) Project has been to illustrate the territorial dimension of the ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’. In other words, to show how this document acts territorially, particularly at the regional scale, but, when possible, also at the urban level. The SIESTA Project has been funded by ESPON (“European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion”), a European Commission Programme whose mission is to support policy development in relation to the aim of territorial cohesion and a harmonious development of the European territory. This book includes most of the main findings and conclusions obtained through research of the SIESTA Project. The contents were presented and discussed as keynote addresses or communications at the SIESTA Final Conference held in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, on 4-5 April 2013

Banat-Crişana as Micro-destination – Elements of Tourism Image and Tourism Identity

Geographical regions, according to some authors, are defined and delimited by criteria that vary from one geographical school to another. These criteria may be: scenic, functional, political-administrative, mental etc. (processed after Cocean cited in Neguţ, 2011, p. 157). They also can be combined according to the objectives/strategies that are elaborated for each branch of the economy: industry, agriculture, tourism, etc. In this regard, from tourism point of view, the region of Banat-Crişana was taken into consideration, that includes the following counties: Caraş-Severin, Timiş, Arad and Bihor. Due to the many land and air border points, it represents the first contact with the tourists coming from the West, with other words “its visiting card… crucial in formulating the first impressions regarding Romania” (Cocean, 2010, p. 201). The presented research aims to highlight the role of the image of the region of Banat-Crişana in building its own brand, by identifying its main tourist attractions and forms of tourism