Even though every country in the EU must follow the waste management hierarchy stipulated in Directive (EU) 2018/851 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 2008/98/EC on waste, there are differences in how the member states manage their municipal waste. For example, the percentage of recyclable and incineration with energy recovery of municipal waste is among the lowest in the Slovak Republic (and the high amount of its disposal by landfilling). However, following the European Union legislation, several strategies in the Slovak Republic, such as the Waste Prevention Program 2019-2025, Waste Management Program 2021-2025, and Envirostrategy 2030, have been adopted. Based on these strategies, the recycling rate is scheduled to increase to 65% by 2035, and the percentage of municipal waste sent to landfills is planned to fall below 25%. These projections assume the successful implementation of the programs. As a result, the Slovak Republic’s waste is significantly lower than that of other member states. When investigating the efficiency of municipal waste management, we utilised partial treatment-specific indicators and a composite indicator based on an approach known as the multi-criteria decision-making method. The highest efficiency of municipal waste management in the EU-27 in 2021, expressed by the composite indicator, was achieved by Germany (0.630), and the lowest performance by Malta (0.188). For the evaluated period of 2017–2021, municipal waste management efficiency improved the most in Malta (+28.4%) and deteriorated the most in Denmark (-20.8%). The broader implications of our research have shown significant differences in partial treatment-specific indicators across the EU-27.

In the waste sector, EU Member States implement EU legislation. They rely on EU Directives and their waste legislation and policies. During the evaluated period (2015–2021), the Slovak Republic amended the Waste Act 79/2015 Coll. and issued strategy papers following EU legislation. France adopted its National program for prevention of waste and Finland its National waste management plan. In our research, we use a method of comparison and analysis of selected legislative documents to examine the achievement of the Green Deal’s objectives in the Slovak Republic and selected EU countries. We have shown the legislative process results through research, which indicate the achievement of set waste management goals. In our future research we will focus on building waste management infrastructure in the EU since it is necessary to apply the idea promoting the support of such waste treatment facilities that will be sustainable throughout their existence.

As part of the negotiations for EU accession, the Republic of Serbia through Chapter 27 (Poglavlje 27 u Srbiji: Napredak pod ključem(1)), has begun the process of establishing a waste management system and adapting it to the goals and acquis communautaire(2). The key document in Serbia that aims for environmental awareness is called the Waste Management Program of the Republic of Serbia. Followed by the Waste Management Program of the Republic of Serbia, the Regional Waste Management Plan for 2019–2028 has been created and is addressing waste management and establishing a Regional Centre in the city of Novi Sad for Waste Management. Furthermore, the Local Waste Management Plan for the self–government unit of Bački Petrovac has been adopted in May 2021.

The Carpathian Euroregion comprises of five countries: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Ukraine, as the Euroregion's fifth state, aspires to join the EU. As a result, we chose to compare Slovak Republic as an EU member state and Serbia and Ukraine as candidate countries. To support waste reduction and a circular economy, European law establishes waste management principles incorporated into national legislation across all EU member states. The key document of Slovakia is the Envirostrategy 2030, which sets a target of 60% recycling and 10% landfilling by 2030. In 2017, Ukraine's Cabinet approved a National Waste Management Strategy for the period up to 2030, and Serbia approved a Waste Management Program in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2022 - 2031; as a crucial aspect of the EU's new growth strategy to move the EU economy toward a sustainable economic model, the research article focuses on the European Green Deal and its effects on the countries under examination. This research paper's goal is to assess the state of Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine focusing on the waste situation in particular. While Ukraine and Serbia have enacted legislation requiring waste separation, this is only being implemented gradually in practice, and insufficient infrastructure is another issue. Slovakia has a slightly better situation due to its more advanced infrastructure.

The significance of resolving the effective functioning of competency performance in the construction sector stems primarily from the impact on the efficiency and quality of the competencies exercised. Currently, municipalities in the Slovak Republic exercise the delegated competencies of spatial planning and building regulations, either individually or jointly on a contractual basis. The paper's primary goal is to evaluate the performance of municipal competencies in building/construction sector in selected regions of the Slovak Republic (Nitra and Košice region) from a quantitative point of view from 2014 to 2019. We used in our research mainly quantitative analysis of efficiency -two basic output-oriented DEA models, namely the CCR model and the BCC model. The current model in building sector has shown that joint building authorities are, on average, less efficient than single municipality building authorities, and this applies to both the overall efficiency indicator and the scale efficiency indicator. However, in terms of the net effect of the organizational form, single municipality building authorities are on average 13.4 percentage points more efficient than joint building authorities. Our research looks at the net effects of the new model in the construction sector.