ALBERT

Description: The research carried out describes the provision of COVID-19 funding in individual EU Member States under the ongoing operational programmes of the EU financial perspective in the period 2014–2020. This was followed by identification of the most important areas of support and the amounts allocated to them for Poland and its sixteen voivodeships under the available EU funds from the 2014–2020 perspective. Types and forms of support for health services from the funds of the Regional Operational Programme for the Opolskie Voivodeship 2014–2020 (ROP WO) were analysed in detail. The obtained results showed that Italy, Spain, and Poland provided the largest values of support under the available operational programmes from 2014–2020 to combat the effects of COVID-19. In Poland, funding was mainly provided by the European Regional Development Fund, with the dominant support allocated to entrepreneurship and health care. In the Opolskie voivodeship, which is the case study, the additional financing in the health area concerns: personal protective equipment, equipment, construction works, oxygen installations, and waste water management. In this article, a literature analysis of the issue was conducted prior to the research process, which included theories of post-2007 crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus is on the theoretical background and research showing the impact of crises from the point of view of social, economic, and ecological dimensions, i.e., from the point of view of sustainable development. It also presents planned and implemented public intervention to offset the negative effects of COVID-19 in 2020 from structural funds in EU countries, including Poland and its 16 voivodeships.

Description: In line with the assumptions of the European Green Deal, it is planned to allocate 25% of agricultural land to organic farming by 2030. However, the question arises: what share of organic farming and under what additional conditions is it able to feed the population of a given country? The aim of the article is to try to answer the above question for the example of Poland. In particular, the authors analyze: the problem of satisfying people’s nutritional needs, reducing food wastage, and finally the relationship between sustainable consumption and increasing the share of organic farming in Poland. Attention was also paid to possible potential changes in the agricultural land area with the growing share of organic farming. The proposed scenarios for the transition to organic farming concern the year 2030. We propose to increase the share in 20%, 40% and 60%, imposing them on changes in sustainable consumption of +/−25%, +/−50% and +/−75%. The available FAOSTAT (Statistic Data of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and Statistics Poland data from 2008–2018 were used for the analysis. The model scenario analysis showed that the total food demand will be met in most of the scenarios. It has also been shown that with a higher level of transition to organic farming, it becomes necessary to reduce food wastage. Changing the consumption style not only creates opportunities for a wider development of organic farming in Poland but can also generate free areas on arable land (e.g., even more than 26% of free area in the +/−75% scenario). This may create potential opportunities for their use in the production of consumer crops, but also in the protection of the natural and agricultural environment.

Description: Effective acquisition of funds, including European Union (EU) funds, designated for example, creating economic and social processes, may have a real impact on the elimination of the negative outcomes of the current position of the EU on the global scale. The aim of the research is to indicate the impact of spending funds from the Regional Operational Program of the Opolskie Voivodeship 2014–2020 (ROP OV) on a key macroeconomic area of the economy, i.e., the housing development sector in the region. The practical aim is to formulate recommendations and solutions that can offer guidelines for more effective spending of EU funds and their effect on the macroeconomic dimensions of the economy. The article proposes an innovative approach to linking EU payments in the region with the real estate market. The results of the research and the analyses made on this basis showed a positive impact of the payments made from the ROP OV on selected macroeconomic indicators, i.e., the number of permits issued for the construction of new apartments and the number of currently implemented housing investments. The obtained results should be used in the decision-making process at the level of regional and national authorities responsible for the payment of EU funds. In this article, prior to the research process, a literature review was made. It covered various aspects of the evolution and development of research in the area of regional development. The research process was based on innovative methods of time variability analysis, correlation between the investigated determinants and coherence analysis for the studied dimensions. Data on payments from the ROP OV concern the years 2015–2020.