The focus on the specific territories such as rural areas as systems is imperative in order to achieve each of the strategic goals of development at national and European level. The objective of current paper is a subject to the project “7I/14 Regional policy against depopulation of Bulgarian villages” which aims to bring to light opportunities and fields of interventions to reduce depopulation of Bulgarian villages and to formulate recommendations and measures at national and regional level. Present study limits its tasks to: systematization and classification of the factors for development of the rural areas, investigation the role of institutional actors and pointing out the factors that constraint the successful development and some pathways of resolving the bottlenecks. Since the objective data show significant disparities between developed and underdeveloped rural regions and specificity of development factors, a subjective empirical study (survey) among 144 respondents from two regions – underdeveloped and developed, has been conducted. The object of this paper is the discussion on just two of all 13 questions in the questionnaire: 1) the role of the institutions and organizations for the future development of rural areas and 2) the factors limiting development of rural areas. In formulating specific measures for activating the factors and engines of rural development two types of mechanisms need to be applied: 1) maintenance and expansion of the socio-economic functions of the areas and settlements with vitality and economic capacity; 2) social care for people of the depopulated villages and areas which perspective is to drop out from the administrative map of the country. The results show that the development of rural areas and settlements in Bulgaria can be catalyzed using supporting measures which become agents of transition process through deployment of the institutional regime capacity and practice specific approaches towards the different type of regions, areas and settlements.

Cohesion policy is the EU's main investment policy and one of the most specific expressions of solidarity. Further investment is needed to overcome the persisting differences between Member States. After 2020, resource allocation to the regions will continue and the greatest efforts will be needed to bring these countries together with the rest of the EU. At the same time, cohesion policy will continue to play the role of a strong and direct link between the EU and its regions and cities. The main purpose of this article is to compare the approaches in allocating funds across the different EU Member States and how the implemented Cohesion Policy will change after the year of 2020.

One of the greatest problems faced by rural areas in Bulgaria today is depopulation. The main research question posed in this paper is whether such depopulated regions can benefit from the social and economic integration of ethnic and immigrant communities. A survey on public opinion was conducted in two regions: one developed (Stara Zagora District), and one lagging (Vidin District). It focused on the willingness of local communities to "welcome" newcomers, to cohabit with them and their awareness of the possibility of enriching local cultures with their specific cultural traditions and experience. Results show varying tendencies, depending on the regional socioeconomic level of development and degree of integration of the group. The survey directs the attention to significant social distances emerging in various regional communities between local populations, ethnic and/or immigrant communities. Conclusions reached show that ethnic and immigrant communities can be an important social and economic resource for Bulgarian villages. Nevertheless, this requires work predominantly on the structural level for providing opportunities and eliminating disadvantages, involving the introduction of improved integration and discrimination policies, legal framework and market opportunities, in order to foster better interethnic communication and trust, as an intrinsic quality of social capital, for overcoming existing barriers.

The main goal of the article is to review and analyze the pros and cons when public services are provided by different levels of government in EU countries. Methods such as analysis and synthesis, comparative method, mathematical and statistical are used for achieving the goal. The results will clarify the distribution of responsibilities for public services delivery in EU countries, which seek to fully cover the principle of subsidiarity stated in the European Charter of Local Self-Government. Transferring more powers will lead to new responsibilities to local government and it needs to be more effective, as larger municipalities would be able to fit in faster and better. The conclusions are related to the more efficient and effective distribution of public services between different levels of government.

Nowadays the tourism sector is facing challenges from different type. The physical limitations in travel, overnight stays and public health affected all forms of tourism. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, industries worldwide have been in a state of stagnation, collapse and insecurity which can be seen mostly in tourism sector. According to global expectations physical and mental health care are top priority, so forms of alternative tourism will be the focus of the tourism sector in near future. Current research is relying on hypothesis that alternative forms of tourism are more preferable than the mass tourism, since it is less widespread and consumers would find this form safer from a health point of view. Results will provide detailed overview of tourism sector in Bulgaria and its distribution.