Olja Munitlak Ivanović

Assessment of the effectiveness of policy implementation for sustainable energy development in Southeast Europe

Using solely economic indicators as a measure of development as a whole is no longer justified and acceptable. The survey covered 11 countries in the region of Southeast Europe—in the region for which indicators of sustainable energetic development were defined. The authors propose a specific way of expressing their needs for treatment using the method of weight coefficients. The results indicate that the efficiency of energetic policy in the region varies widely. Countries at higher level of economic development record a high dependence on energy imports. Countries in the region at a similar stage of development show different energy consumption per capita and the different intensity of energy production from renewable resources. Research shows that energetic efficiency policies in the region, apart from the available energy resources, largely depends on the degree of economic development that a country wants to achieve. Countries at lower level of development show higher degree of sustainability in terms of energy management and vice versa. The most favorable situation was observed in Bulgaria. Negative trends were observed in Greece and Hungary, while in Slovenia the indicators were on the border of sustainability. Data used for research refer to the year 2010.

SURVEY OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN SE EUROPE – A NEW CONCEPTUAL FRAME FOR SUSTAINABILITY METRICS

The practice so far has indicated that there is a sensitive relationship that exists between social and economic subsystem of sustainable development, therefore this research suggests comparison of the states of these two subsystems as a new conceptual frame which is essential for strategic conceptualization of development. The research pointed out a rather visible collision between the achieved degree of economic and social development in the countries of South Eastern Europe in respect to Germany and France, which were taken into consideration as two of the most developed countries in the European Union and in the entire world. The indicators which are given in this research point to the necessity of further scientific and practical consideration of strategic conceptualization of relationship between economics and society.

Environmental taxation in the European Union—analysis, challenges, and the future

In this paper, the authors intend to show that environmental taxes are an economic instrument that entirely supports the principles of sustainable development and has impact on balanced improvement of all its four pillars (economic, ecological, social, and institutional). Environmental taxes provide a flexible and cost-effective means for reinforcing the polluter-pays principle and for reaching environmental policy objectives. Enforcement of environmental taxes (and penalties) simultaneously generates multiple values—it stimulates ecologically acceptable production, generates budget revenue, and stimulates socially responsible behavior. The subject of the analysis is determination of environmental taxes in the European Union (EU) member states in total amount and as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as well as monitoring of their trend in the period 2005–2010. To obtain a broad picture, results collected for EU-27 region have been compared with data for sample countries worldwide, including Br...