The European economy has been strongly tested by the effects of the economic crisis in 2008, so economic policy makers had to identify tools to counteract them and identify innovative strategies meant to support economic recovery in the shortest possible time. Considering the complex character of the economies that form the European Union, and their various needs, the innovative character of the identified strategies represented the determining factor of ensuring competitiveness among them. The identification of the specific development needs of the national economies is the main condition for the programs started at community and national level to reach their objectives of economic competitiveness and innovation. This paper aims to analyze the economic competitiveness of Romania in the European context, aiming to identify how the premises of this concept are ensured by using the financial instruments made available by the European Union. The objective of this study is to establish competitiveness at regional level, which is particularly useful in guiding the financial support for the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework.

The analysis of the competitiveness of the Romanian economy will take into account the Global Competitiveness Index and the Regional Competitiveness Index, following the way of relating the competitiveness and sustainability measured as economic dimension. The results of these evaluations will be the basis of the recommendations regarding the future efforts that Romania should make in order to successfully implement the competitiveness and innovation strategies promoted by the European Union. In this sense, the financial instruments used to support the competitiveness policy are an essential condition of innovation and they are the basis of the premise of sustainability of the Romanian economy.

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Keywords:
competitiveness, strategy, innovation, financial instruments
JEL:
O11, F15, F43