ROMANIA’S REGIONAL INEQUALITIES IN RELATION TO THE OBJECTIVES OF THE EUROPE 2020 STRATEGY

The present paper represents a study of the competitiveness of Romania in relation to the targets of the Europe 2020 strategy, in order to draw up a current regional ranking of the competitiveness. There are significant disparities in the regional contribution to the achievement of Europe 2020 national targets, which will affect both Romania's competitive position within the European Union and its long-term evolution. The purpose of this paper is to highlight these regional differences in terms of progress in achieving the Europe 2020 targets by analyzing their evolutions in the period and at the end of the implementation program. In this respect, the Principal Component Analysis method is used to establish two regional rankings corresponding to 2016 and 2020 that illustrate their intermediate and final progress. The results show that employment rate and tertiary education are the targets with the greatest impact on the final regional score and those that most differentiate the regions between them. On the other hand, the results show the tendency of regions to diverge from some strategic targets, which will further complicate Romania's long-term competitive mission.