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The process of demographic changes in European countries is characterized by greater and greater ageing of the population, as a result of the decline in the rate of natural increase and the rise in life expectancy. Europeans have less and less children, they live longer and face the problems how to ensure a safe old age. Noticed trends of change will be intensified till the middle of the new millennium (2050), when the following situation is expected: the decline in the number of children (0-14 years) for almost 20% and the active-working population (15-64), while there will be more "old persons" (65-79) for more than 44%, and "the oldest" persons (80 or more) for even 180%. Ageing of the population characterizes all regions, but is specially pronounced in the countries in the south and countries in transition. Faced with the challenges of the disturbances in the demographic structure, the members of the European Union (25) developed an entire spectrum of measures and activities to prevent the negative social-economic consequences. Creation of "the policy of ageing" at the Union level develops within the co-ordination (OMC) of the process of modernization of the social security system (old-age pension insurance, health insurance, social and child protection); it also implies the creation of conditions for "the active old age" (increase in employment and staying as long as possible on the job market), the development of "the new forms of solidarity" between generations (as a consequence of the increase of the coefficient of dependency between active working and supported population), preventing poverty and social exclusion, etc. Strategic documents, directions and national action-plans determined the concrete measures needed to face the demographic challenges.

The relationship between government spending and economic growth is an important and controversial issue in modern societies. In this paper, the correlation between economic growth and government expenditure is studied. The analysis is based on data for the European Union countries and panel data techniques are used.

Aim of the article is to analyse the causes and practical reforms of the pension system in the European Unioncountries. Another task is to clarify the requirements of the European Union's institutions for the member – statespension system reforms and to sum up the pension system reforms of the European Union member – states.This theme is actual not only in the light of the execution of the reforms of the Lithuanian pension system, butalso because Lithuania is in the middle of co – ordination processes of the European Union.The practical results, presented consequences and conclusions can be used planning future reforms of theLithuanian pension system. Also it may be used as methodical literature studying the actual processes in the fieldof the pension system reforms of the European Union.

This paper reviews important aspects of gender labour market inequalities in four European Union countries. It shows that individual countries differ in many aspects of gender discrimination. It seems that contributing factors to these differences are the national social and economic structures, the level of economic development, the legislative framework and the effectiveness of anti-discriminatory policies. It also shows that there are notable improvements in many gender gap indicators during the recent years and, at least part of the improvement should be attributed to the European commission's legislative and policy initiatives.

International audience ; This paper estimates the tariff equivalent of the border barrier in each bilateral trade among European Union countries. The results show that there are large differences in the border barrier across European Union countries' bilateral trade. In some bilateral trade flows the border barrier has almost disappeared, whereas in other cases it is still equivalent to a 75 per cent tariff. The results also show that some countries have low border barriers in most of their bilateral trade flows with other EU members, whereas other countries persistently present large border barriers.

This paper estimates the tariff equivalent of the border barrier in each bilateral trade among European Union countries. The results show that there are large differences in the border barrier across European Union countries' bilateral trade. In some bilateral trade flows the border barrier has almost disappeared, whereas in other cases it is still equivalent to a 75 per cent tariff. The results also show that some countries have low border barriers in most of their bilateral trade flows with other EU members, whereas other countries persistently present large border barriers.

This paper uses a new data set on budgetary institutions in Europe to examine the impact of fiscal rules and budget procedures in EU countries on public finances. It briefly describes the main pattern of budgetary institutions and their determinants across the EU 15 member states. Empirical evidence for the time period 1985-2004 suggests that the centralisation of budgeting procedures restrains public debt. In countries with one-party governments or coalition governments where parties are closely aligned and where political competition among them is low, this is achieved by the delegation of decision-making power to the minister of finance. Fiscal contracts that require countries to set multi-year targets and that reinforce those targets increase fiscal discipline in countries with ideologically dispersed coalitions and where parties regularly compete against each other.

In this paper, we examine the integration of European government bond markets using daily returns over the 1998–2003 period with a set of complementary techniques to assess the time varying level of financial integration. We find evidence of strong contemporaneous and dynamic linkages between Euro zone bond markets with that of Germany. However, there is much weaker evidence outside of the Euro zone for the three accession markets of Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, and the UK. In general, the degree of integration for these markets is weak and stable, with little evidence of further deepening despite the increased political integration associated with further enlargement of the European Union (EU).

Along with the rapid development of industry and agriculture, growth of population, improvement of urbanization level, China has been confronted with increasingly serious deficiency and pollution of water resource. In order to deal with the challenge as well as reduce waste discharge, it is necessary to strengthen all the possible efforts in controlling water pollution. Therefore, the control and management of water pollution is of vital significance to the development of national economy and social society, which is worth doing research on academically and practically. Water pollution management, in a sense, results from the urbanization and cosmopolitanization process. In this aspect, the European countries have acquired a lot of successful experience in water pollution control, which provides plenty of useful knowledge and reference for China's ongoing efforts in water pollution control. This thesis, by taking a comparative analysis approach, looks into the European countries' experience of water pollution control, makes evaluations on their managerial strategies, system and methods. Then it reviews China's efforts on water pollution control, and analyzes the current situation of China's water management, especially the water pollution control system of Huaihe River Basin, and as a result puts forward suggestions to improve China's water pollution control system such as verification of property rights of water resources, enhancement of legal framework, investment and taxation policy preference, technological improvements, public participation and prevention measures. ; www.ima.kth.se

At the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century the tendencies of development of the financial system and problems arising in this sector are more and more often becoming the object of scientific research as successfully functioning financial sector in every country is an important precondition for the growth of economy. Upon analyzing the development of the financial system and the influencing factors the problem of influence of the formed financial structure on economic processes cannot be dissociated from it. Indicators of development of the bank sector were used in the research to establish the correlation of the financial sector and gross domestic product of the countries of the European Union:Central bank assets/ Total financial assets, Deposit money bank assets/ Total financial asset, Other financial institutions assets/Total financial assets, Deposit money bank/(Deposit money bank + Central bank) assets, Liquid liabilities/GD, Central bank assets/GDP, Deposit money bank assets/GDP, Other financial institutions assets/GDP, Bank deposits/GDP, Financial system deposits/GDP, Private credit by deposit money banks/GDP, Private credit by deposit money banks and other financial institutions /GDP, Overhead costs and Net interest margin. Indicators of development of the market are: Stock market capitalization/GDP, Private bond market capitalization/GDP, Public bond market capitalization/GDP, Stock market total value traded/GDP and Stock market turnover ratio. Indicators of development of the insurance are: Life insurance penetration and Non - life insurance penetration.The obtained results do not confirm the researches of other authors, who analyzed the dependency of the financial sector and the growth of economy of the "old" European Union countries, as it is stated that the growth of economy determines the formation of the structure of a market-based financial system, and with the domination of a strong bank sector in the Baltic States even in rapidly growing economy, dominant strong banking ...