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Following the rationale for regional redistribution programs described in the official documents of the European Union, this paper studies a very simple multi-country model built around two regions: a core and a periphery. Technological spill-overs link firms' productivity in each of the two region, and each country's territory falls partly in the core and partly in the periphery, but the exact shares vary across countries. We find that, in line with the EU view, the efficient regional allocation requires both national and international transfers. If migration is fully free across all borders, then optimal redistribution policy results from countries' uncoordinated policies, obviating the need for a central agency. But if countries have the option of setting even imperfect border barriers, then efficiency is likely to require coordination on both barriers and international transfers (both of which will be set optimally at positive levels). The need for coordination increases as the Union increases in size.

International audience ; The recent European Court of Justice's Kolpak ruling1 gives us another opportunity to focuson the combination of public law and sporting rules in the sport law matters, particularlyregarding professional sport.Each sporting situation is positioned in the spotlight of different levels of legality. Threegeographical zones may be distinguished: the regional level as, for example, in Italy or Spainwhere Regional Sport Acts exist; the central national level; and the European level whereCommunity law applies.What has changed since 1995 and the famous Bosman ruling2? Although Deliege andLethonen, have confirmed the applicability of the freedom of movement of workers in sport,they also have allowed more flexibility in the application of Community law to sport.Nevertheless, with respect to fair competition, have the sport federations, in the light of theirmonopoly, secured their role in the future of professional sport?As professional sport includes not only sporting and economic, but also cultural and historicaldimensions, a special treatment is needed.

Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is one of the most important developments in modern European politics. Building on two decades of monetary integration it transfers monetary policy, a core function of the modern state, to an independent European Central Bank (ECB) and limits member states' fiscal policy discretion. The ECB insists that growth and employment depend on 'flexibilizing' Europe's labor markets through deep reforms of the social policies and employment relations which comprise the 'European social model'. Member states retain authority over these areas at the heart of national politics, but how will EMU affect the domestic politics of institutional change? Will EMU reinforce de-regulation and retrenchment or will it facilitate reforms that maintain the protections against economic insecurity, inequality, and unilateral employer power the European model has provided? To address these questions, a transatlantic team of leading experts analyzes the evolving tensions between monetary integration and national social policies