Renewable energy is the key pillar and plays an important role in the energy systems of European Union member states and in mitigating climate change. It is supporting the transition towards a greener, resource-efficient and more competitive, low-carbon European Union economy. Above-average, average and below-average values of monitored indicators in member states of the European Union in 2009–2016 were ascertained by using principal component analysis. Monitored indicators of the renewable energy sector included electricity generation, electricity capacity, investments of public financial institutions, number of employees and turnover achieved from the economic activities related to production, distribution, installation, operation and maintenance of equipment (all of them per capita). Based on the achieved results, we can state that the situation changed during the period under review. Member states have moved between above-average, average and below-average levels of renewable energy indicators. However, a lack of change in the indicators was recorded in some member states throughout the eight-year period (Finland, France, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Spain did not move significantly). Renewable energy sources (hydro, wind, solar, geothermal and energy from biomass) were evaluated as a whole due to different natural, economic and legislative conditions of European Union countries.

Greening the economy requires green innovations, and innovations require investments. Most countries of the world are still relying on conventional (fossil-based) sources of energy. The transition toward green or renewable energy sources is an effective and innovative way to meet ever-increasing demand as a result of the rising population. Another reason for innovations in the field of green energy is the need to mitigate climate change and avoid pollution, especially in developing countries. The monitored investments into renewable energy sources are usually public. Therefore, this paper aims to determine whether the selected countries of the world produced renewable energy efficiently, considering the investments made by public financial institutions and installed electricity capacity for renewable energy sources, for the period 2013–2017 (for a deeper analysis, the year 2017 was chosen). For this purpose, the Stochastic Frontier Analysis model in the logarithmic form of the Cobb-Douglas production function is used, which helps to judge the competitiveness of countries based on effectively transforming the inputs into outputs. Results suggest that the effect of the first variable “installed electricity capacity” on electricity generation was highly statistically significant, and the impact of the second variable “public investments” was characterized as statistically insignificant. The monitored countries were divided into 10 groups according to the different range of estimated output-oriented technical efficiency from 0.00 to 1.00. Most countries should increase the renewable electricity generation approximately by 40-49%, given the level of inputs (16 countries of 6th group with estimated output-oriented technical efficiency 0.51-0.60) for the year 2017.

Despite a decreased share of gross domestic product, the role of a country’s food and beverage industry cannot be underestimated. Food security should be a crucial part of national policy in every country because, during critical situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it plays a key role in the protection of a country’s citizens. The food industry also plays a key role in employment and the sustainable development of all countries. We investigated the latest trends and focused on one specific branch of the food industry. Although the spirits industry does not have a major market share in the food industry, it is one of the branches with the highest added value, and it produces commodities with high export potential. This branch of the food industry in the Slovak Republic has a long tradition. Our primary aim was to examine the competitiveness of this sector in a single market of the EU as a key element of its sustainable development. The results obtained for the revealed comparative advantage suggest that there was a downturn in the number of competitive branches in the Slovak spirits industry during the study period of 2004–2018. Despite this negative trend, the remaining competitive branches of the Slovak spirits industry represent the majority of exports.

Taxation and tax policy are relatively much-discussed topics within every society, and this has been so in the past, it is today, and it will be in the future. This is mainly due to the fact that no person or company is too fond of having to pay a certain part from their funds to the state in the form of taxes. Each state chooses its own tax policy and its own tax system so that the specified tax policy does not impede economy and economic development, but on the contrary, supports the business and economic growth. After the accession of the Slovak Republic to the European Union, Slovakia had to accept a certain state of tax regulations and rules that was valid in the European Union. This was mainly in order to use the common European market. The Slovak Republic has created its tax system in accordance with the rules of the European Union and has been trying to find a compromise between the amount of taxes necessary for the fulfilment of the state budget and the amount of taxes that would be most acceptable for the business sector and for people. Within the tax system, the Slovak Republic divides taxes into direct and indirect taxes, direct taxes imposed on labour, income and property, and taxes on consumption by indirect taxes. Recently, the prevailing opinion is that taxation should gradually shift from direct taxes to indirect taxes, to motivate people and businesses to achieve the best possible results, and subsequently raise the necessary funds based on the increased consumption. Recently, both in Slovakia and in the European Union, new excise taxes have been increasingly introduced. Traditional excise taxes such as taxes on mineral oils and fuels, tobacco and alcoholic beverages are complemented by energy, environmental, and electronic taxes. Slovakia and the European Union want to reduce the burden on the environment through these taxes on the one hand, and on the other hand, they must respond to the new challenges of globalization, information, and communication.

Under the 2014–2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the existence of two pillars is maintained and the link between them is strengthened. Regulation (EU) No. 1307/2013 provides a new system of direct payments. The system consisting of the decoupling of agricultural aid from production (partial decoupling) and the provision of general income support, which came into force in 2003, is being transformed into a system in which single farm payments are replaced by a seven-component system of multi-purpose payments: basic payment per hectare, greening component, additional payment to young farmers, redistributive payment, additional income support in areas with natural handicaps, coupled support, voluntary simplified scheme for small farmers. There are three measures related to greening payments: crop diversification: the farmer must grow at least two different crops; preservation of existing permanent grasslands; the creation of an area of ecological interest corresponding to at least 5% of the arable land of a holding over 15 hectares (excluding permanent grassland and perennial crops). The new CAP aims to increase agriculture‘s contribution to the EU‘s environmental and climate objectives, provide more focused support for smaller farmers and allow Member States greater flexibility to adapt measures to local conditions.