Mihaela Adina Apostolache’s research while affiliated with Petroleum & Gas University of Ploieşti and other places

The article analyzes the constitutional and legal foundations of local public administration in Romania. It appears, therefore, that the local public administration built on the principle of local autonomy benefits from a general regulation starting from its explicit recognition by the constitutional text and continuing with the development of its legal status in different regulations of organic or ordinary character. The Constitution of Romania, adopted in 1991 and revised in 2003, established the constitutional foundation of local public administration, establishing the principles under which the administration of local communities is organized and functions, how the territory of the state is divided, the authorities exercising local autonomy, as well as the body exercising the control of administrative tutelage over the acts of local public administration authorities. The constitutional norms valued as principles allowed the subsequent adoption of regulations that develop and strengthen the status of existing local communities within the administrative-territorial units in Romania.

The Journal is edited by the Centre for Studies and Legal and Socio-Administrative Research (CSCJSA) within the "Petroleum Gas" University of Ploiestit through the Publishing House Petroleum and Gas University of Ploiesti and comprises articles, studies and reviews in the legal and socio-administrative domains. A significant part of the articles published focuses on European issues. The Journal appears in on-line format. The articles are published in the English language.

Regional development is a concept focused on stimulating and diversifying the economic activities, stimulating investments in the private and public sector, meant to reduce the socio-economic differences between various areas, in order to improve the standard of living and offer high quality services to citizens. Regional development represents one of the main objectives of the European Union. The idea of region is nowadays a European one, a major functional principle of the Union, and also a condition of the administrative reform within the member or candidate states. Within the European Union the region is considered “the next level after the state” or “a territory that forms a net unit from geographical point of view, or a similar assembly of territories having continuity, population sharing certain common elements and willing to keep and develop their specificity in order to stimulate the cultural, social and economic progress”, rather administrative definition. At present, we cannot speak of administrative regions in Romania, but just economic, because the region is not yet included among the territorial-administrative units in the Constitution. The first post-revolutionary law regarding the regional development was the Law no. 151/1998, repealed in 2004 by the Law no. 315/2004 regarding the regional development of Romania, regulation that established the objectives of the policy in the field of regional development, the responsible institutions, competences and specific instruments meant to promote the actions of regional development.