ABSTRACT

Romanian rural areas need revitalization and increasing territorial competitiveness. The "territorial projects" designed from the Local Action Groups, may become a new governance model for the search of regional competitiveness. The objective of this paper is to analyze the critical factors affecting territorial competitiveness in Romania and in the economic sustainability of rural areas. The competitiveness analysis is conducted in the context of the European Network for Rural Development. The methodology used for the analysis is based on the WWP model, which integrates elements of planning as social learning, economic sustainability and Networking Knowledge for Rural Development. The results show that the main limiting factors for regional competitiveness are focused on three dimensions or components: social-ethical, political-contextual and technical-entrepreneurial. Challenges and changes necessary for effective implementation of LEADER under conditions of global market relations are submitted.

Keyword: Territorial competitiveness; Rural Development; Romania; Working with People; Social Learning; Networking; Sustainable economies