Pages: 88-108
Introduction. The paper examines the dynamics of sustainable development in the European Union and Romania, through the lens of the relationship between governance quality, institutional performance and the vulnerabilities generated by economic criminality and corruption. The analytical framework is structured around three Sustainable Development Goals selected for their complementarity in capturing the transmission mechanisms through which corruption and economic criminality generate economic and social costs: SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being). This selection is motivated by the fact that SDG 16 indicators directly reflect governance quality and the effectiveness of law enforcement mechanisms, SDG 8 indicators capture economic performance and labour market dynamics, while SDG 3 indicators illustrate the indirect effects of corruption on population welfare through pressures on public financing and the quality of essential services.
Aim of the study. The study adopts a quantitative, descriptive, comparative, and longitudinal approach, based on secondary data from official institutional sources: the Eurostat database, the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, the National Institute of Statistics data and the European Court of Human Rights reports. The econometric modelling uses OLS regression with HAC correction, estimated in EViews, yielding an R-squared of 73.12% for Romania. The results reveal that reducing corruption has a standardised impact on GDP per capita dynamics (beta = 0.386) exceeding that of gross investment (beta = 0.351) in Romania, while for EU-27 the corruption impact is almost halved (beta = 0.199).
