The paper proposes a different approach for the analysis of the sustainable development in the context of 2030 Agenda. The authors defined and used a cumulative model. For the beginning, the authors compare the dependent variable with the regressors of the four reporting entities: EU28, Romania, Turkey and Switzerland. These entities cover EU, the country of the authors, a candidate country and non-EU country, as well. The analysis is focused on the Goal 10 from the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development, covers 2000–2017 and is based on the latest official data from Eurostat. The model used by the authors generated high statistical representativeness. The statistical tests demonstrate the model’s homogeneity. A distinct part of the paper is focused on the risk analysis. The authors basically propose a distinct approach which is usefully for the central and regional decision makers. The statistical period took into consideration is good enough to support pertinent conclusions. The analysis leads to the conclusion that Romania can decrease the disparities regarding the sustainable development. On the other hand, the Romania’s progress in achieving sustainable development’s targets is lowest than the EU average. The model proposed in the paper supports the decision makers in achieving a more performant management regarding sustainable development goals. The paper represents a theoretical approach with great applicability to economic development.

Against the backdrop of Romania’s successive negative performance in attracting European funds (coming last in the EU top), as indicated by audit reports for projects that have been funded so far, this paper proposes a new approach in relation to analysis and performance improvement in securing EU funds, while identifying viable solutions for the betterment of the current situation. Furthermore, the authors develop a new audit performance analysis model (NOP), described as a dynamic and flexible model, based on reducing the fraud and error risk in the structural fund management of European-funded projects. The analysis methods encompass literature reviews, observational studies, database management, statistical analysis, and the synthesis of the whole findings. The main conclusion of the analysis is the critical necessity of integrity improvement in the context of managing the non-reimbursable funds through audit activities based on ISA805, the international standard on auditing European-funded projects.

In the conditions of a digitalized and sustainable economy, a smart decision is focused on all demand aspects regarding: the product demand, the quality demand, and the elements of national and international bodies able to ensure the criteria of economic integrity on the European Markets. These aspects represent a set of challenges and indicate the smart component of the management decision assisted by reliable economic models. The present work aims to develop such a model applied to the wheat seed production starting from the study of the specialized literature and using empirical methods. The analysis covers 2016–2020. The main objective of the study is the combination of the information from the observational study to obtain the smart decision model. The study results in the smart model of managerial decision, which represents a real necessity for managers, considering the challenges to which they are subjected. The proposed model in the paper can be used for all types of seeds across the EU and not only. The implementation of the present study by the authors validates the proposed model.

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Water pollution caused by microplastics represents an important challenge for the environment and people’s health. The weak international regulations and standards in this domain support increased water pollution with microplastics. The literature is unsuccessful in establishing a common approach regarding this subject. The main objective of this research is to develop a new approach to necessary policies and ways of action to decrease water pollution caused by microplastics. In this context, we quantified the impact of European water pollution caused by microplastics in the circular economy. The main research methods used in the paper are meta-analysis, statistical analysis and an econometric approach. A new econometric model is developed in order to assist the decision makers in increasing efficiency of public policies regarding water pollution elimination. The main result of this study relies on combining, in an integrated way, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) data on microplastic water pollution and identifying relevant policies to combat this type of pollution.