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The crisis caused by COVID-19, made us rethink our perception of the way of life. Traffic restrictions, isolation, quarantine, the need for social distance have generated new behavior by transferring null activities in the online environment. The advantage today is that the 21st century is characterized by the presence of information technology and its rapid development. The telecommute proposed by Nilles (1994), became in 2020 a very topical concept, due to the special situation in which the whole of humanity is. Although both employers and employees have refused the teleworking formula for a long time, it has now become the only possibility to maintain an acceptable level of activity. The rapid evolution of ITC technologies and applications, the entry on the labor market of the M generation have contributed to the increase of favorability for telework, in 2018 it being included in the Romanian legislation. The methodology for this article was to analyze the Romanian Classification of Activities in the National Economy (CAEN) to find out in which domains do Romanian SMEs prefer to activate and to find out the resistance to telecommuting as a way of work by finding out which of these economic sectors have implemented day to day teleworking long ago and which will. An empirical analysis of every domain was complemented by the survey results to verify to which extent telecommuting is feasible in Romanian SMEs, especially during and after the Coronavirus pandemic. It was necessary to analyze of Eurofound statistics regarding living and working during the COVID-19 pandemic to find out correlations and differences between the authors’ findings and the EU27 baseline.

The book “Cultural Hybridization in the Contemporary Novel” attempts a bold feat: to present, out of a diversity of works in contemporary English language literature, some books that are truly valuable for the reader. It invites us to ponder on some of the hottest topics the world is currently facing, including the mixture of cultures, migration and its consequences on today’s culture and literature, the longing for home and its spiritual meaning.

Innovation and knowledge-intensive economy are considered crucial for addressing challenges and opportunities currently faced by Europe. The present paper aims to provide inputs for building a long-term vision aiming to promote innovation and knowledge economy for fostering smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. We analyze microdata from the 2016 Innobarometer “EU Business Innovation Trends” (Flash Eurobarometer 433), covering 14,112 companies from 30 countries in order to shed light on main drivers and results of business investments in innovation. We focus our analysis on high-tech industries and knowledge-intensive services. Additionally, expected positive impacts of innovation in knowledge-intensive sectors are explored in terms of job creation, digital economy, environment protection, health, transport, food quantity and quality, development of smart cities, etc. Our results are useful for designing an improved support for the emergence and impact of knowledge-intensive economy.

Natural ecosystems are extremely exposed to the ever-increasing changes in population growth and the expanded need for resources. The economic capitalization of their constituent elements makes their degradation and conversion more profitable than conserving them. Nevertheless, mankind is mindful of nature’s value, and over time has developed its policy and means of protection and conservation to help it integrate its actions so that they respect the paradigm of sustainable development. Most of the ecosystem’s functions are, also, economic. The process of determining the economic value of an ecosystem is a laborious approach that involves specific instruments that depend on many variables. These variables are induced by the innate/ natural transformations of the biogeographical environment or by particular situations generated by extreme phenomena. This study addresses the economic value of natural areas (with the example of the Bucegi Natural Park –B.N.P.) in a methodological context focused on international studies, with results in certain protected areas in Romania. The established report managed to provide an economic value obtained both from the revenues generated from the costs for visitors and jobs and through the capitalization of the non-commercial benefits. As an important element in our investigation, we took into consideration the pressures and menaces identified in protected areas. Natural activities (geological and geomorphological events, climate changes) and anthropogenic events (e.g. development of residential and commercial spaces, transport corridors and services, tourism activities) associated with negative elements (pollution, hunting and overfishing, degradation) involve costs. Dedicated by ever-changing legislation, inadequate financial support, and a faulty management approach, they tend to balance the scale against the benefits. The economic valorization of the components defining a protected natural area serves as an advantage for all involved parts. This must be performed within the limits of the actual legal framework but in the spirit of protection and respect for nature in all its’ forms.

Along with joining the EU and with the desire to be compatible with the European labor market, flexicurity begins to penetrate gradually the Romanian labor market, becoming a topical concept, an economic and social recovery tool. In the simplest possible way, flexicurity can be defined as the compromise between flexibility and work safety. The flexicurity principle was born as a solution to the European dilemma: how to increase the competitiveness of European enterprises in global competition without sacrificing the European social model.

The last years were of profound transformation in public services that knows more or less the challenge from the private sector. A second dimension of competitiveness for the public services staring from 2007 was the free access of the citizens to at least education and health services in European Union. The paper aims to show the evolution of the cohabitation of the public and private sectors on the services of public interest, their development and evolution in different regions. Identifying and highlighting the key issues in competitiveness and quality of the services provided, will give us the main lines for the further development and public policies that should be considered. Considering the cohesion policy of European Union, an analysis of the public and private sectors in public services in Romanian counties could drive us to a conclusion about the affordability and the quality of the services. Using the statistics it can be show the regional distribution of the service providers especially for education, health, water supply and other services. The integrated analysis we offer a global picture of the regional potential and development. Based on the findings the public decision makers could better set up the sectorial public policies and the public spending. Never the less, the European support could be also directed to increase the quality and efficiency of the public services.

This paper aims at the balance between the citizen and the public authorities with public services as an interface. Public services place themselves at the crossroads of many elements such as: needs of the citizen, social need, public will, public resources, private availability, and civic sense. Without claiming to have identified all factors that converge to defining / structuring the public services (PS) / services of general interest (SGI), the paper tried to highlight some of the most important.

Tourism represents, for many states, an important part of the economy. Socio-political and economic, local or regional crises affect the upward trend of the sector through its specific nature,role and content. Turkey is a world-renowned tourist destination due to its particular natural conditions, historical and cultural monuments, and traditions combining European modernism with Oriental refinement. The moments of socio-political tension and the negative effects of natural phenomena and processes, in relation to the time and place where they occurred, led to significant fluctuations in its choice as a tourist destination over the last decade. The presentation is a study that highlights, from the perspective provided by the analysis of the flow of Romanian tourists who chose this destination during 2010-2018, the effect of the socio-political and natural context on the tourist phenomena in Turkey.

Savings and investments are not unconditioned universal ways for the economic development and growth of a country. They accomplish only the motor role in a healthy macroeconomic ambiance, but in the context of a coherent and consistent long-term policy, as well. Only in these circumstances it can become reality the virtuous circle of high savings – large investments – economic growth.

The main aim of the UE is to protect and sustain its citizen’s expectations by harmonizing the national politics and strategies in order to generate better results. At this moment we have three main actors: Private Business Environment (PBE), National Pub