The Sustainable Development In The Eu And Romania: Comparative Analysis

The present paper has as purpose the comparative analysis of the way in which sustainable development is approached within EU and Romania. By this analysis it is aimed to identify ways and solutions for improving the future strategy of sustainable development in Romania. Most quoted definition of sustainable development is found in the Bruntland report, where sustainable development is described as „development meeting the needs of the present without compromising the capacity of future generations to meet their own needs”. In order to make this concept operational, the greatest challenges for sustainability within EU and Member States were taken into consideration. Several of the evolutions contrary to sustainable development have as starting point the choices made in the past regarding technology and infrastructure, use of land, etc. Many of these issues have common roots. Companies and individuals often face motivations triggering production and consumption in a way contrary to sustainable development. They may be insufficiently informed about chain effects generated by their actions, or about the available alternatives. Institutional hindrances make difficult the remedy to these inadvertencies. The most acute menaces facing sustainable development originate, as a rule, from some areas of sectoral policies. For instance, the attempt to face challenges facing population health might require enforcement of active actions in industry, agriculture, fiscal policy. When the policies are enforced sector by sector, disregarding effects on other sectors, the discrepancy between sectoral policies inevitably shows. The Strategy for Sustainable Development (SSD) allows for the identification of actions to be undertaken in order to remedy the situation.