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The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly led to a severe deterioration of the global economic environment and a sharp worsening in the international financial market sentiment. Hence, the European governments adopted extraordinary monetary and state aid policies to mitigate the economic collapse and stabilise the financial markets. Romania was no exception, being significantly affected by the pandemic. Against this background, the paper aims to analyse the peculiarities of the monetary support and state aid adopted by Romania and by other EU Member States in the context of the pandemic crisis to increase the resilience of their national economies. Our main findings reveal that the monetary support provided in Romania consisted in significant liquidity injections into the financial system, and in the purchase of state securities from the secondary market. In Romania, the largest part of the total state aid was directed to SMEs from the processing industry, constructions, wholesale and retail trade, transport, and the storage sector, especially through guarantees and direct grants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing war from Ukraine (started by the Russian Federations' unprovoked military aggression on Ukraine in February 2022) has created a tense geopolitical situation with widespread economic repercussions, affecting not only the directly involved parties but also their economic partners. The European Union (EU) has been significantly impacted by this event, particularly through the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation, which have disrupted the bilateral trade. Against this background, the European authorities have utilized the State aid policy to mitigate the adverse effects of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the economies of the Member States. Our research focuses on identifying the main instruments used in the field of State aid and on examining how the Member States, particularly Romania, have leveraged these tools to lessen the war's negative impact on their national economies. To achieve this, we will conduct a comparative analysis of the State aid provided since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, using the latest data published by the European Commission in the State Aid Scoreboard. Additionally, we will present a case study on how Romania has utilized the Temporary Crisis Framework (TCF) and the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF) to support its national economy amid the war's consequences. Our primary finding reveals that, similar to the pandemic crisis, the State aid policy has proved its effectiveness and adaptability in promptly supporting the economies of the Member States affected by the Ukrainian war. Furthermore, our second finding shows that Romania has successfully taken advantage of the new opportunities presented by TCF and TCTF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the West has sanctioned the Russian Federation as a form of protest to the Russian policy towards Ukraine, Moscow has turned to its closest partner in terms of political visions and strategic objectives, i.e., to China, to support its economy and pave the way for resource development and exploration energy with the help of Chinese capital. Although China declares itself neutral regarding the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, stating that it wants peace talks leading to a political agreement between Ukraine and the Russian state, the communication between these two countries with close political views is at an all-time high level so far. China has managed to absorb Russian exports boycotted by Western states and to fill the gap left by the largest withdrawal of foreign investors from the Russian Federation. The investment cooperation between the Russian Federation and China remained quite stable in comparison to the great retreat of the Western companies after the outbreak of the Ukrainian war and the imposition of international sanctions. Against his background, the research has the objective to analyse the current patterns of the investment relations between the Russian Federation and China, by presenting the current changes of the Russian investment framework under the Ukrainian war and identifying the Russian sectors that attracted the major part of Chinese investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regional conflict from Ukraine that emerged a year ago, in February 2022, has quickly evolved into a widespread economic confrontation between the West and the Russian Federation, due to the enormous amount of sanctions imposed to the latest as a retaliation for the unprovoked military invasion into the territory of an independent and sovereign state. While the Western sanctions have targeted various economic field (from finance, to energy and trade), for the purpose of this paper we have chosen to analyse the impact of the trade sanctions in the energy field while highlighting how the European Union (EU)-Russia energy trade has shrunken under the sanctions blow. This paper provides an in depth quantitative analysis of the bilateral trade between the two parties, focusing on the evolution of energy trade after the imposition of sanctions. The methodological approach uses the latest Eurostat statistics but also a qualitative analysis of the studied literature in the field to underline the huge impact of sanctions on the bilateral cooperation between EU and Russian Federation. Our main finding shows that the sanctions have seriously affected the economic cooperation between EU and Russian Federation, causing a major decrease of the bilateral trade, but the energy trade still remains important, as the enforced bans have not completely stopped the unwanted energy link between the two parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation turned into Europe's most prominent military conflict since World War II, severely modifying the economic and financial relations between the European Union (EU) and the Russian Federation. Since the beginning of the Russian aggression, the EU has imposed a large number of sanctions against the Russian Federation, which aimed at limiting Russian resources to finance the war and restricting its access to European financial markets. In this context, the paper aims to investigate the impact of the EU sanctions on the Russian financial system by assessing the banking system's resilience to imposed restrictions. The findings highlight that, in the initial phase, the Russian financial system has been significantly disrupted by the EU sanctions, facing a collapse of the rouble, the most significant drop in the history of Moscow's stock market, a banking liquidity crisis, but also a contraction in lending and in the interest rate spread. In a later phase, due to largescale countermeasures taken by the Russian authorities and the Bank of Russia, it has been stabilized, reflecting its high level of resilience to risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the current economic environment, shaped by the widespread consequences of the war in Ukraine, the European Union's agricultural sector and its rural development policy are facing numerous challenges with significant impact on agricultural production, food security and the welfare of the European farmers. This research paper aims to investigate the Common Agricultural Policy's (CAP) response to those challenges in the current financial framework (2023-2027) using a comparative analysis based on the published CAP Strategic Plans (CSP) of the Member States. To this purpose our methodological approach will use a series of indicators selected for highlighting the measures proposed in various Member States to increase food security, to boost sustainable agricultural production and to protect the farmers' income. Our main objective is to illustrate the future of CAP funding using as case study Romania's approved CSP, while presenting the specific measures proposed in this country to support its agricultural sector among the challenges brought for its farmers by the current economic international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period 2023-2027 proposes a series of development objectives that allow Member States to design their CAP Strategic Plans for enhancing the resilience of rural areas through targeted actions to increase agricultural production and food security, while supporting climate and environmental objectives. This paper aims to identify the concrete ways in which funding granted through the CAP can contribute to increasing the resilience of rural areas under the global current challenges brought by the COVID-19 crisis and by the war that Russia started in Ukraine, by analysing some key factors: CAP's role for boosting the competitiveness of European agriculture, supporting the growth and employment in rural areas, supporting farm income, financing the environmental objectives and, last but not least, finding solutions to increase food security. For this purpose, the latest statistics on CAP allocations for the two pillars (Pillar I - agriculture and markets and Pillar II - rural development) will be presented, as well as the evolutions of trade in agricultural products and agricultural production at EU-27 level in order to highlight how can CAP respond to the challenges brought by the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the climate change, while financing the sustainable development of EU's rural areas and supporting a competitive agriculture in the Member States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In the current post-pandemic economic environment, both climate action and sustainable development remain essential objectives for the European Union, while the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with the largest funding from the European budget may emerge as a key factor for achieving them both. CAP financing framework for 2021-2027 has three broad objectives: viable food production, sustainable management of natural resources and balanced territorial development. Given that those objectives of the post-pandemic CAP are particularly wide and ambitious, this paper focuses only on a comparative quantitative analysis of climate and environmental expenditures undertaken by Member States, highlighting Romania's position in the European hierarchy. Our research aims to present the achievements and challenges of Member States' environmental and climate spending under the CAP, in order to underline which development directions could contribute to a more resilient and sustainable rural development across EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]