The vegetable sector plays an important role in ensuring food security. Vegetable trade flows in Romania have become a major concern due to constant trade balance deficits despite the country’s agricultural potential. Taking into account the paradox between what could be considered an abundance of factor endowments and poor trade balance results, the objective of this research was to study the linkage between vegetable trade flows and chain competitiveness. Spatial panel econometric methods were used to study the impact of the international vegetable market on the demand in Romania, while the Balassa index and Porter’s diamond modelling techniques were used to study the competitiveness of the vegetable chain at both county and national levels. By applying the spatial regression method to the international trade and national production panel data, it was found that an increase in the quantity of vegetables imported into Romania would cause an even greater decrease in national vegetable production. The results show that Romanian vegetable production is highly and negatively influenced by the growing appetite for imports—therefore leading to a national dependence on the global vegetable chain. Porter’s diamond model results confirm that: (a) growing vegetables is profitable in Romania and the average profit margin is higher in this economic sector than in many others; (b) there is a lack of competitiveness caused by the post-communist excessively fragmented agrarian land structure and poor performance of the irrigation, warehousing, and transportation sectors; (c) the national production of vegetables is generally self-sufficient with the exception of three counties that resort to importing and account for more than 70% of Romania’s total vegetable imports; (d) factor endowments cannot be fully harnessed, and this contributes to the deepening of the trade balance deficits. Improvement is possible by fostering competitiveness through increasing the performance of supporting industries and the logistics infrastructure, as well as removing market access barriers for the many small farmers.

Both the European Green Deal and Sustainable Development Goal 2 - Zero Hunger, highlight the importance of sustainable food systems as a key element for sustainable economic growth, a healthy population and the protection of the environment (European Commission, 2021). In this context, the analysis of quantitative indicators specific for the agricultural sector and the farm provides a realistic picture of the evolution of farms in Europe in 2005 vs. 2016. However, a qualitative analysis of farms is also needed, as sustainability focuses on quality. Given that it is essential to quantify both quantitatively and qualitatively the progress made in agriculture, with a focus on agricultural holdings, the objectives of this paper are: a) to identify the evolution regarding farms for each Member State of the European Union; and b) to signal the risks related to the states that are below the European average regarding the analysed indicators. This paper contributes to the studies carried out in this field through models for assessing the progress of farms in Europe and the unique set of indicators analysed. According to the study, the states that have made the most significant progress in terms of the number of farms, the output measured in Euro and the number of farms whose household consumes more than 50% of final production in 2016 are (1) Romania and (2) France.

Competitiveness has always been considered a vector of innovation that is centered around economic performance; constantly pushing companies to achieve better performance results. In such a modern society deeply marked by digitization, value creation has expanded its scope and it is no longer involving only harnessing customer satisfaction through the quality of the products or services marketed to customers, but it is also involving the permanent digital connection and engagement between the links of any value chain. Digital platforms, including social networks, are major sources of economic concentration where different forms of value emerge. For example, Facebook Inc. runs a business model that involves selling online media space for companies willing to pay money to have consumers of goods and services engage with the ads displayed on Facebook platforms, based on specific group targeting. Taking all of this into consideration, the scientific interest in exploring the nature of an emergent form of value along the chain is implicit. This paper brings its unique contribution to the existing literature concerning the topic of agri-food value chains by providing a niche marketing approach on a paradigm shift at the level of the nature of value generated in the chain in the case of highly digitized societies. The research objective was to bring the sustainability factor into the spotlight of the analysis concerning the paradigm shift of the nature of the value generated in the agri-food value chain. Research results show that some multinational corporations active in the Romanian agri-food sector use the Facebook Ad Market to reach consumers and call for them to engage in activities specific to building a sustainable agri-food system. Thus, by engaging in such activities, consumers feel that they contribute to the corporations’ effort in achieving sustainability. Consequently, a different form of value is generated along the chain.

The agricultural sector is crucial for economies around the world, not only due to its role in ensuring food security, but also for capitalizing on the competitive advantages in a profitable and sustainable manner. The competitiveness of the agricultural sector has been highly debated in the literature. There are many welldeveloped methods for quantifying the different facets of agricultural competitiveness, most of which have a strong economic valence. One of the facets of competitiveness is resilience, the capacity to withstand the challenges that occur during periods of crisis while maintaining initial functions, if not improving them. Although the competitiveness of the agricultural sector has caught the attention of scholars, the literature is not abundant in studies dedicated to the analysis of the resilience of the agricultural sector's competitiveness. Thus, this study was aimed at bringing its contribution to the literature by tapping into the resilience of the agricultural comparative advantage in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this research was to assess Romania's agricultural comparative advantage and its associated resilience levels in the face of the negative effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the global agri-food supply chains by resorting to the Balassa index. Data were extracted from the International Trade Center INTRACEN database and used to calculate the revealed comparative advantage for two different periods: before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings showed that tobacco-based products were the most resilient and not only did those products maintain their level of competitiveness, but they also managed to become more competitive. On the other hand, although Romania is highly competitive in terms of exporting cereals, the resilience of this agri-food category proved to be poor during the COVID-19 pandemic. The same was observed in the case of oil seeds and oleaginous fruits. The drought from 2020 significantly contributed to these unfavorable results for Romania. This paper provides support and assists decision makers in the process of adopting measures aimed at increasing the resilience and competitiveness of the Romanian agricultural sector.

This paper aims to provide an analysis of the legislative framework that regulates the inclusion of clauses on good governance in tax matters, in the agreements concluded between the European Union, with its Member States, and third countries. We provide a representation of the regulatory pathway from a set of standards on tax good governance according to the principles of transparency, exchange of information and fair tax competition towards a common EU external strategy for effective taxation. Agreements that the European Union has either in place or negotiating with countries and regions around the world are an excellent tool in fighting unfair trade practices and promoting international standards on good governance in the tax area, and set the basis for a fair competition in the economy of developing countries: a strong tax administration and institutions responsible for fighting illicit financial flows in developing countries can contribute to erase poverty and inequalities while promoting good governance and state-building.