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The European Union’s energy policy focuses mainly on three areas: reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector by increasing the use of RES, reducing emissions of harmful pollutants, and increasing the efficiency of the electricity used.

The article is devoted to presenting the topic of migration of Ukrainian nationals to Poland. The work makes use of a survey under a project carried out in Polish rural areas and small towns. Seven hundred interviews were held in total. We conducted a quantitative analysis of its results here. The employed methods involve variable frequency distribution. The independence of the features was tested with the non-parametric chi-square test of independence. The association of the investigated variables was determined with Cramér's V. The research shows that the most numerous foreign nationals in the Polish labour market in 2021 were Ukrainians. The positive trend started in 2017. The respondents perceived the migration of Ukrainian nationals to Poland mostly positively, especially regarding seasonal work. They also emphasized that the Ukrainians performed work at variance with their qualifications. Only every fifth participant agreed that migrants took away jobs from Poles. Most of the respondents pointed out that small business owners benefited from employing Ukrainians. The overwhelming majority of the respondents noted an increase in migration from Ukraine after the full-scale invasion and that entire families of Ukrainians were coming to Poland. Nearly half of them agreed that the support system for Ukrainian migrants was a burden on municipal budgets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Organic farming is a farming concept whose development is justified by proenvironmental measures. In recent years, there has been a steadily increasing market demand for goods supplied by organic farms. An important objective of organic farming, which is emphasised in EU regulations, is to respond to consumer demands, which is related both to changes in the structure of consumption and to environmentally friendly consumer attitudes. As a result, there is an increasing demand for organic food. The aim of the article is to present the differentiation of EU countries in terms of the development of organic agriculture, based on selected indicators presenting the supply and demand side of the organic food market. Methodology: The assessment of development of the organic food market in EU countries was carried out on the basis of annual data from 2012 to 2021. Dynamic measures and development trend models were used to characterise the time series. In a second step, the EU countries were classified by development of the organic market using a synthetic variable. Findings: Demand for organic food is increasing, both in economically more developed countries and in developing countries. Nevertheless, sales of organic food in overall food sales are still low, as they do not on average exceed 3,7%, while there are countries like Denmark where they even reach 13%. In addition to the presentation of the diversity of EU countries in terms of the level of the organic food market, the dynamics of change in the selected indicators in 2021 in comparison with 2012 are also shown. The most dynamic changes in the food market in terms of the number of producers and the area of crops are observed in the new Member States, i.e. Croatia, Bulgaria and Latvia. Originality: The article presents the organic food market leaders in terms of organic food producers, area occupied and volume of sales worth. It then identifies the countries with the most dynamic changes taking place in this market in 2021 in comparison with 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Problems related to the aging of the population have not only social but also economic consequences. It is therefore important to draw the attention of governments and social organizations to undertaking initiatives aimed at activating elderly people and, if possible, keeping them on the labor market. The idea of U3A is rich, widespread and firmly rooted in the educational system of many countries. Universities of the Third Age (UTW), established in the world since 1973, and in Poland since 1975, play a special role in solving social problems related to counteracting social exclusion and activation of the elderly. Methodology: A trend model for the increase in the number of seniors was determined. In order to assess the phenomenon of the development of universities of the third age, dynamic indicators were used and the average rate of change of the phenomenon was determined. Findings: The aim of the article was to present the development of UTAs in Poland in dynamic and spatial terms. The conducted analysis shows that U3A enjoy great interest in Poland. The offer of universities was regionally diversified both in terms of the number of operating universities, organizational and legal form and the number of people interested in classes offered by the U3A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union's energy policy focuses mainly on three areas: reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector by increasing the use of RES, reducing emissions of harmful pollutants, and increasing the efficiency of the electricity used. Sustainable energy use, on the other hand, is clearly associated with an increased use of renewable energy sources, which ensures energy security, as well as diversification of energy supplies that sustain and improve the quality of the environment. The purpose of the paper is to present the diversity of the countries of the European Union in terms of the actions they take in the field of energy and climate policy resulting from the European Union directives. Based on the goals of energy policy presented in the EU directives a number of indicators were selected in order to describe the actions taken by EU member states. After a substantive and statistical verification, 6 variables were left. The use of the Ward's method made it possible to create groups of countries that are similar in terms of their energy and climate policies. The most favorable situation in terms of the effects of the climate and energy policy can be observed in the current leaders, that is in Sweden and Finland as well as in Estonia. Central European countries, mainly Poland, have high-emission economies, accompanied by low investment in modern environmentally friendly technologies. This is manifested, among others, in high concentrations of particulate matter, which contributes to poor air quality, categories in which Poland has some of the worst results in the entire EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: One of the most important areas of reflection on innovation and innovativeness is regional policy and issues related to the development of the economy. The phenomena of globalisation and pressure to create a knowledge-based economy means that not only enterprises, but also countries are forced to optimise the use of their potential on a macro, meso or micro scale. For this reason, the issue of innovativeness is connected with particular economic entities and sectors of the economy, with the activity of state, regional and local authorities and the European Union. In the conditions of deepening European integration, stimulating innovation of territorial socio-economic systems is an important instrument of economic policy at the international, national and regional levels. The aim of the study is to assess the level of innovativeness of the region in spatial and dynamic terms. Multivariate Statistical Analysis will be used to determine the aggregated indicator based on data taken from Eurostat database. Design/methodology/approach: The implementation of the objective will be achieved through the evaluation and comparison of the level of innovativeness of EU countries with the use of a synthetic measure, estimated by using one of the model methods of linear ordering of objects in the years 2015, 2018 and 2021. In the proposed method, the synthetic measure is determined using the distance of the examined objects from the model objects. The dynamic approach will allow to determine the directions of changes. The level of innovation of regions (EU countries) determined by a number of indicators that were adopted in four areas: human capital, finance, business activity and intellectual property protection. Findings: The region's innovativeness is a multidimensional phenomenon, which is directly unmeasurable, hence the need to use statistical methods when measuring it. Obtained results will allow to assess the studied phenomenon, build a ranking and identify countries with a high, medium or low level of innovation. The results of the analyses confirmed that it is advisable to consider innovation by plane, because in this case there is a greater differentiation of countries. Due to the level of innovation, the highest positions in the ranking were taken by Sweden, Germany, Finland and Austria, at the end of the ranking were countries from Central and Eastern Europe, Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania. In the area of innovative activities, Estonia ranked very high being classified in the group I of the most innovative countries. The country is characterized by high employment in innovative enterprises, significant expenditure on innovation and a large share of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) introducing product innovations. The fact that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe are reducing the distance to more innovative EU countries should be assessed positively, as evidenced by lower values of the coefficients of variation in 2021 compared to 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The energy policy of the European Union focuses mainly on three areas: renewable energy, reducing the emission of harmful pollutants, in particular CO2, and increasing the efficiency of electricity used. Sustainable energy management, in turn, is undoubtedly associated with the increased use of renewable energy sources ensuring energy security as well as the diversification of energy supplies that support and improve the quality of the environment. The aim of the article is to present the diversity of the European Union countries in terms of actions taken in the field of energy policy resulting from climate and energy goals. Design/methodology/approach: On the basis of the objectives of the energy policy presented in the EU directives, indicators describing the activities of the Member States in this respect were selected. Then, they were subjected to substantive and statistical verification, leaving 6 variables. The tool of Multidimensional Statistical Analysis, which is a synthetic measure, was used to develop a synthetic measure of the level of achievement of the goals of the climate and energy policy. Two types of analyses were used: static for international comparisons between the European Union countries, conducted for 2021, and dynamic, for the years 2011-2021. Findings: The most favourable situation in terms of activities aimed at reducing emissions of harmful substances and improving the energy efficiency of countries can be observed in the hitherto leaders of Sweden and Finland. Together with Denmark, these countries have set very ambitious national targets for achieving a share of at least 50% from renewable energy in gross final energy consumption. All countries have increased their energy productivity index. Bulgaria, Italy and Slovakia have made the greatest reductions in pollutant emissions. In the interests of energy independence, countries are trying to increase energy production from domestic resources. The greatest improvements in this field were made in Ireland, Latvia, Portugal and Finland. The division into three groups of countries implementing the energy and climate policy introduced by the EU showed that the indicators that differentiate countries to the greatest extent, among the group of selected variables, are greenhouse gas emissions and the energy dependency ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]