Suchergebnisse

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Figures and Boxes -- Preface -- 1 Developing European Social Policy -- The social dimension of European policy -- EU social policy for the twenty-first century -- 2 Towards a European Social Model -- Harmonizing national social policies -- Recognizing national diversity -- Consolidating the European social model -- 3 Education, Training and Employability -- The legal framework for education and training -- Community initiatives on education and training -- National trends in education and training -- The impact of EU policy on national systems -- 4 Improving Living and Working Conditions -- Community policy for improving living and working conditions -- Working conditions in member states -- Living conditions in member states -- From working to living conditions -- 5 Family Policy on the European Agenda -- European family policy in embryo -- Changing families and family policies -- The family dimension of European social policy -- 6 The Gender Dimension of Social Policy -- European legislation and women's social rights -- From EU law to national policy and practice -- The gender impact of equality policy -- 7 Policy for Older and Disabled People -- Developing policy for older and disabled people -- The demographic challenge for EU member states -- National provisions for older and disabled people -- Policy implications for generational solidarity -- 8 From Poverty to Social Inclusion -- Developing European policy to combat poverty and social exclusion -- Defining and measuring poverty and social ex/inclusion -- National policy responses to social exclusion -- Concerted action for social inclusion -- 9 Social Policy and Mobility -- European legislation on free movement of persons -- The impact of Union policy on mobility -- Obstacles to intra-European migration.

Social policy has become an increasingly prominent component of the European Union's policy-making responsibilities. Today, for example, a highly developed body of law regulates equal treatment in social security and co-ordinates national security schemes; national health services have opened up to patients and service providers from other states; and rules govern the translation of educational and vocational certificates across member states. This state of affairs is all the more remarkable given the relatively limited resources at the EU's disposal and the initial intentions of its founders. During negotiations for the Treaty of Rome in the 1950s, social policy was viewed as the exclusive provenance of the member states. There were to be provisions to facilitate labour mobility within the common market, but until the 1970s social policy making at the EU-level was modest. However, plans for the internal market moved social policy on the EU's decision-making agenda. The Social Chapter was adopted in 1989, and the Single European Act expanded EU competencies in social policy. The Treaties of Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice all expanded competencies further, so that by the time the heads of government met in Lisbon in 2007 to sign the EU's latest treaty, the extent of supranational control over important aspects of social policy making was quite impressive. This important book provides a full account of the evolution of social policy in the EU and of its current reach. It examines the reasons for the increased role of the EU in the area, in spite of formidable obstacles, and details its effects in member states, where social provision is often the biggest item in government budgets and a crucial issue in national elections. Drawing on research done on welfare states around the world and on European integration, this book provides a distinctive and sophisticated account of social policy in Europe, showing how it must now be understood in the context of multi-level governance in which EU institutions play a pivotal role.

Using real-time data, we examine whether fiscal policy has been counter- or procyclical in a panel of 27 European Union (EU) member states over the period 2000–2015. We also investigate whether fiscal rules and government efficiency improve the cyclical reaction of fiscal policy. Our results suggest that even though fiscal plans in EU countries have an acyclical stance, budgetary outcomes are procyclical. Government efficiency and fiscal rules seem to reduce fiscal procyclicality. Further analysis also reveals that fiscal policy seems to be more procyclical in non-euro area countries and in times of economic prosperity.

ABSTRACTWhat social policy developments may be reasonably expected from the European Union? Three possible positions on this question are developed: a market liberal view; a progressive liberal view; and an institutionalist view. None of these positions is obviously the correct one, and in each case a mixture of pragmatic and principled criticisms can be developed. However, it is argued that the progressive liberal position strikes an ethically acceptable balance of competing considerations.

"Social Policy and European Union Politics" published on by Oxford University Press.

Paper read at the ESPRN Conference "Social Values, Social Policies" Tilburg University. 29-31 August 2002. ; This paper explores the relation between family values and options for social policies of representative citizens from thirty European societies, constituting member and applicant countries of the European Union. It seeks to understand the values and value orientations supporting specific family structures and options for social policies of distinct groups of nations, corresponding to the various waves of accession or application for membership to the European Union. These include European Union (EU) members identified for an IPROSEC (Improving Policy Responses and Outcomes to Socio-Economic Challenges: changing family structures, policy and practice) project according to their welfare system and wave ofEU accession as Continental (France, Germany, Italy [joined in 1951]), Universal (United Kingdom, Ireland [1973]), Latin Rim (Greece [1981], Spain [1986]) and Nordic (Sweden [1995]) countries; post-communist (Hungary [applied in 1994], Poland [ 1994], Estonia [ 1995]) and Mediterranean (Malta [ 1990]) applicant countries (Hantrais 2001); and the remaining countries taken together: members, applicant and non-applicant countries of the European Union. ; peer-reviewed