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Families in the economic crisis: Changes in policy measures in the EU — 04 February 2016, 13:58 CET

Throughout Europe families have felt the effects of the economic crisis that began in 2008. This report describes their experience in the aftermath of the crisis, up to the present. It looks in detail at developments in 10 Member States that were selected to represent different types of family policy regime, ranging from those with the most ‘enabling’ policies (which help families move away from the traditional single ‘breadwinner’ model) to those with the most ‘limiting’ policies (which do not). The report analyses Member States’ responses to the crisis. The findings show that changes in family policy since 2010 are largely the result of a range of conflicting issues: the evolution of family needs; demands for austerity cuts; and the need for equitable distribution of limited resources. Such conflict means that family policies often lack an integrated policy framework. In some countries, benefits have been reduced, disproportionately affecting disadvantaged families; in others, new measures have been targeted at the most severely hit. In summary, this report provides policy-makers with evidence from different country settings on what policy measures appear to work to mitigate the risk of poverty or social exclusion for disadvantaged families with dependent children.

European Court of Auditors special report no 18/2015: Financial assistance provided to countries in difficulties — 26 January 2016, 17:30 CET

When the 2008 financial crisis triggered a European sovereign debt crisis, some Member States were forced to seek macro-financial assistance. This report examines how well the European Commission managed the assistance provided to five countries — Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Ireland and Portugal. We found that the Commission was unprepared for the magnitude of the crisis, which largely explains the significant initial weaknesses in its management processes. A number of the weaknesses we identified still persist, and the main message of the report is that the Commission has to strengthen its procedures for the management of financial assistance.

Fiscal Sustainability Report 2015 - Institutional Paper 018 | January 2016 — 26 January 2016, 13:26 CET

The Fiscal Sustainability Report 2015 provides an overview of the challenges to public finance sustainability faced by Member States in the short, medium and long term. Although public finances in the EU today are more sustainable than they were at the onset of the crisis, significant challenges remain over the medium and long term because of high debt levels and population ageing.

Almost 8 million ICT specialists employed in the EU in 2014 — 21 January 2016, 19:44 CET

In the European Union, nearly 8 million people were employed in 2014 as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) specialists, representing 3.7% of total employment. Over recent years, both the number and the share of ICT specialists in total employment have continuously increased to better adapt to an ever digitalised world. However, almost 40 per cent of enterprises with at least 10 people employed which recruited or tried to recruit personnel for jobs requiring ICT specialist skills had hard-to-fill vacancies in 2014.

Social dimension of intra-EU mobility: Impact on public services — 10 December 2015, 18:12 CET

Freedom of movement across Member States is one of the core values of the European Union and is closely linked to European citizenship. There is, however, a heated debate in many of the host Member States about the impact of the rising inflow of mobile citizens on their public services. This research project aimed to examine the extent to which mobile citizens from the central and eastern European Member States (the EU10) take up benefits and services in nine host countries. It also provides a demographic and socioeconomic profile of EU10 mobile citizens and identifies initiatives aimed at integrating them in the host countries and providing them with access to benefits and services. The main finding of the report is that overall take-up of welfare benefits and services by EU10 citizens is lower than that of the native population of the host country, especially social housing and pensions. However, their take-up of certain specific benefits, mainly employment-related benefits (unemployment and in-work benefit), is higher.

EU Climate Policy Explained — 30 November 2015, 23:21 CET

The EU has been the region of the world where the most climate policies have been implemented, and where practical policy experimentation in the field of the environment and climate change has been taking place at a rapid pace over the last twenty-five years. This has led to considerable success in reducing pollution, decoupling emissions from economic growth and fostering global technological leadership. The objective of the book is to explain the EU's climate policies in an accessible way, to demonstrate the step-by-step approach that has been used to develop these policies, and the ways in which they have been tested and further improved in the light of experience. The book shows that there is no single policy instrument that can bring down greenhouse gas emissions, but the challenge has been to put a jigsaw of policy instruments together that is coherent, delivers emissions reductions, and is cost-effective. The book differs from existing books by the fact it covers the EU's emissions trading system, the energy sector and other economic sectors, including their development in the context of international climate policy. Set against the backdrop of the 2015 UN Climate Change conference in Paris, this accessible book will be of great relevance to students, scholars and policy makers alike.

First findings: Sixth European Working Conditions Survey - Eurofound — 26 November 2015, 23:22 CET

Most workers are satisfied with their working time (58%), feel supported by their manager (58%) and colleagues (71%) and say their organisation motivates them to give their best job performance (63%). At the same time, while female managers are on the increase, gender segregation remains persistent across the European labour market, younger workers experience greater work intensity and job insecurity, older workers report less access to training, physical risks remain and there are significant differences in job quality across occupations. The sixth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) presents the diverse picture of Europe at work over time across countries, occupations, gender and age groups. The findings underline the complex reality with which Europe’s policymakers are confronted as they seek to build a fair and competitive Europe.

Tackling diabetes in Europe: Issue 47 of the research*eu results magazine — 19 November 2015, 23:41 CET

On 14 November the world will be celebrating the World Diabetes Day for the 15th time since its launch in 1991. A lot of things have changed since then: treatments and prevention have improved, but that didn’t prevent diabetes from becoming a more pressing issue and, according to WHO estimations, diabetes prevalence in 2030 will be twice that observed in 2005. This is largely blamed on unhealthy diet, aging, stress and lack of physical activity. In Europe, the Commission does not have legal competence in the matter and can only rely on active support from national governments. But the EU is nonetheless contributing actively to research in this field. Since 1991 some 892 projects directly or indirectly impacting diabetic patients have been funded, with research work including novel treatments, beta-cell imaging technologies, artificial pancreas, immunotherapies or solutions to counter diabetes side-effects. This edition of the research*eu results magazine focuses on some of the latest results brought thanks to these EU-funded initiatives.

Commission report on implementation of the Firearms Directive — 19 November 2015, 18:13 CET

Evaluation of Council Directive 91/477/EC of 18 June 1991, as amended by Directive 2008/51/EC of 21 May 2008, on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons - The European Commission report on the implementation of the EU Firearms Directive has identified obstacles to tracing firearms and law enforcement due to differences across Member States regarding the marking of weapons, the categorisation and registration of firearms and deactivation standards, as well as lack of interconnection of national tracking and data-filing systems.

European Court of Auditors annual reports concerning the financial year 2014 — 10 November 2015, 12:59 CET

Every year the ECA audits the revenue and expenditure of the EU budget and provides its opinion on the extent to which the annual accounts are reliable and income and spending transactions comply with the applicable rules and regulations. EU budgetary spending totalled €142.5 billion in 2014, or around €300 for every citizen. This spending amounts to around one per cent of EU gross national income and represents approximately two per cent of total public spending of EU Member States. The EU budget is agreed annually — within the context of seven year financial frameworks — by the European Parliament and the Council. Ensuring that the budget is properly spent is primarily the responsibility of the European Commission, along with the other EU institutions and bodies. For around 80% of the spending (principally agriculture and cohesion) this responsibility is shared with the EU’s Member States.

Europe's Border Crisis: Biopolitical Security and Beyond — 05 November 2015, 15:55 CET

Europe's Border Crisis investigates dynamics in EU border security and migration management and advances a path-breaking framework for thought, judgment, and action in this context. It argues that a crisis point has emerged whereby irregular migrants are treated as both a security threat to the EU and as a life that is threatened and in need of saving. This leads to paradoxical situations such that humanitarian policies and practices often expose irregular migrants to dehumanizing and lethal border security mechanisms. The dominant way of understanding these dynamics, one that blames a gap between policy and practice, fails to address the deeper political issues at stake and ends up perpetuating the terms of the crisis. Drawing on conceptual resources in biopolitical theory, particularly the work of Roberto Esposito, the book offers an alternative diagnosis of the problem in order to move beyond the present impasse. It argues that both negative and positive dimensions of EU border security are symptomatic of tensions within biopolitical techniques of government. While bordering practices are designed to play a defensive role they contain the potential for excessive security mechanisms that threaten the very values and lives they purport to protect. Each chapter draws on a different biopolitical key to both interrogate diverse technologies of power at a range of border sites and explore the insights and limits of the biopolitical paradigm. Must border security always result in dehumanization and death? Is a more affirmative approach to border politics possible? Europe's Border Crisis sets out a new horizon for addressing these and related questions.

Essential EU Climate Law — 05 November 2015, 15:54 CET

This new textbook on EU climate law provides a comprehensive account of essential EU climate mitigation law. In addition, the contents cover a number of important and topical issues related to the EU’s efforts to tackle climate change. Written by some of the key thinkers on EU climate law from the University of Groningen, each chapter addresses the relevant directives and regulations as well as their implementation issues, explaining how this affects current policy and academic debate. The chapters therefore not only describe but also critically reflect upon EU climate law.

New guidance on public procurement to help administrations and beneficiaries make the most out of EU investments — 29 October 2015, 22:56 CET

The European Commission published a guide to support public officials across the EU to avoid the most frequent errors and adopt best practices in public procurement of projects funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF). Public procurement plays a key role in the implementation of those EU investments and is an essential element of the Single Market, representing no less than 19 per cent of the EU's GDP.

Report on single market integration and competitiveness in the EU and its member states - 2015 — 29 October 2015, 13:50 CET

The economic performance of the EU has improved in 2014 relative to the two previous years. While growth rates remain low and it will take time to reduce unemployment in some Member States, the EU is steadily recovering despite political and international economic uncertainties. The fall in oil prices is providing an additional boost to the EU economy which has presented record trade surplus figures in the first half of 2015. This report has been written by the staff of the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission. It was published as Staff Working Document SWD(2015) 203 final on 28 October 2015 accompanying the Communication Upgrading the Single Market: more opportunities for people and business, COM(2015) 550.

Report on EU customs enforcement of intellectual property rights - Results at the EU border 2014 — 29 October 2015, 14:38 CET

According to a report published by the European Commission on the enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the EU, authorities detained 35.5 million individual items of fake or counterfeit goods in 2014 with an overall total value of over EUR 617 million. The statistics for 2014 show that the high number of detentions can be linked to the large amount of small parcels in express and postal traffic due to the rise in internet sales. Information is also included on the categories of goods detained, on their countries of origin and on the modes of transport used to ship such goods.

UK, EU and Global Administrative Law: Foundations and Challenges (The Hamlyn Lectures) — 22 October 2015, 23:22 CET

Paul Craig's analysis of UK, EU and global administrative law examines the challenges facing each system and reveals the commonalities in and differences between their foundational assumptions. The challenges which they face may be particular to that legal order, endemic to any legal system of administrative law or the result of interaction between the three systems. The inter-relationship between the three levels is important. The legal and practical reality is that developments at one level can have an impact on the other two. Legal doctrine fashioned at the national level may therefore inform developments in EU and global administrative law. The doctrine thus created may then function symbiotically, shaping developments within a domestic legal order. The inter-relationship is equally marked from the regulatory perspective, since many such provisions originate at the global or EU level.

Britain and the Crisis of the European Union - Kindle Edition — 22 October 2015, 23:18 CET

'The thirty year civil war in the Conservative Party over Britain's membership of the EU is reaching a climax. Baker and Schnapper provide a superb guide both to the bizarre British debate on Europe, and to the deepening crisis of the EU itself, showing how one feeds off the other. This book is essential reading for understanding the deep-seated problems which threaten to overwhelm the European project.'-Andrew Gamble, Emeritus Professor of Politics, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge, UK 'This outstanding book provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the UK's troubled relationship with the European Union. Baker and Schnapper's rich analysis chronicles the complex party political, political economy and diplomatic dimensions of the British politics of European integration, while also showing how the EU's own crisis has fed back into and shaped domestic discourses on Europe. It is difficult to think of a better companion volume as we approach the referendum on the UK's EU membership.' - Ben Rosamond, Professor of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

ECB October euro area bank lending survey — 20 October 2015, 11:20 CET

The October euro area bank lending survey shows that it has become easier for businesses to borrow while banks have tightened lending criteria for house purchases. The ECB’s asset purchase programme continues to support bank lending to the real economy, according to the survey.

Against the Troika: Crisis and Austerity in the Eurozone — 15 October 2015, 23:00 CET

On the 25th January 2015 the Greek people voted in an election of historic importance - not just for Greece but potentially all of Europe. The radical party Syriza was elected and austerity and the neoliberal agenda is being challenged. Suddenly it seems as if there is an alternative. But what? The Eurozone is in a deep and prolonged crisis. It is now clear that monetary union is a historic failure, beyond repair and certainly not in the interests of Europe's working people. Building on the economic analysis of two of Europe's leading thinkers, Heiner Flassbeck and Costas Lapavitsas (just elected to parliament as a member of Syriza), Against the Troika is the first book to propose a strategic left-wing plan for how peripheral countries could exit the euro. With a change in government in Greece and looming political transformations in countries such as Spain, this major intervention lays out a radical, anti-capitalist program at a critical juncture for Europe. The final three chapters offer a detailed postmortem of the Greek catastrophe, explain what can be learned from it and provide a possible alternative. Against the Troika is a practical blueprint for real change in a continent wracked by crisis and austerity.

European Union Foreign Policy: From Effectiveness to Functionality (Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics) — 15 October 2015, 22:55 CET

This book aims to change the way we think about the European Union's foreign policy. Rather than ask whether the EU's foreign policy is effective or not, this book argues that we should inquire instead into the internal functions EU foreign policy plays for the European integration process as a whole.

EU Treaties and Legislation — 01 October 2015, 23:18 CET

This collection of the essential primary and secondary law of the European Union quickly and effectively guides students to the material they need during exams and lectures. Colour-coded content facilitates easy navigation, and Lisbon numbering is used throughout. Two forewords include guidance on finding, reading and understanding EU law.

The Risk of Brexit: Britain and Europe in 2015 (Kindle Edition) — 08 September 2015, 17:41 CET

This is a critical time for the relationship between Britain and Europe, as politicians debate the balance of competencies between governance at EU and national levels. Charting how recent political developments have changed the debate surrounding Britain's membership of the European Union, this book poses a series of questions about how this debate will unfold over the course of the coming months and years: How has the renegotiation agenda shifted? How will EU partners respond to threats of departure from Britain? What is the impact of the rise of right-wing parties like Ukip? What will the 2015 general election and its highly unpredictable outcome change? What are the politics of a referendum on membership in 2017? By seeking answers to these questions, Roger Liddle assesses whether a series of miscalculated gambles by David Cameron and his forebears have left Britain teetering on the edge of Brexit.

Britain and the EU: In or Out? (Kindle Edition) — 08 September 2015, 17:34 CET

Britain has had an ambivalent attitude to the European Union ever since it joined 40 years ago. So what does prime minister David Cameron's promise to hold a referendum on whether the UK should stay in the union mean? What would a "Brexit" entail for Britain, Europe, and the world? These are the questions answered in Britain and the EU, an ebook of 10,000 words, compiled from news and comment published in the Financial Times, the global business newspaper which combines expert UK political coverage with unrivalled reporting on the European Union. The ebook's publication in April 2013 comes less than a year after the runaway success of the FT's first ebook, If Greece goes.... which looked at the consequences of Athens' feared expulsion from the eurozone.

The Puzzle of Non-Western Democracy — 08 September 2015, 17:20 CET

Western democracy is being questioned around the world. At the same time, Western aid groups are quick to say that they are not trying to impose a particular style of democracy on others and that they are open to supporting local, alternative forms of democracy. This book examines what it is about Western democracy that non-Westerners are reacting negatively to and whether the critics often are equating a dislike for certain Western social or economic features with an aversion to of Western political systems. It also explores the current state of debate about alternative forms of democratic practice in different regions - Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America - and then puts forward ideas about how Western actors engaged in democracy support can do a better job of incorporating new thinking about alternative democratic forms into their efforts.

Developments in collectively agreed working time 2014 — 16 July 2015, 16:25 CET

The average collectively agreed weekly working time in the European Union of 38.1 hours did not change between 2013 and 2014. In both years, the working week also remained, on average, 30 minutes shorter than the EU28 average in the EU15 Member States, and more than 90 minutes longer in the more recent Member States. If the collectively agreed normal annual working time is taken as the pattern, full-time workers in the EU will have worked, on average, 1,707 hours (1,675 hours in the EU15 and 1,813 hours in the recent Member States) in 2014. Of the sectors of activity examined, the banking sector recorded the shortest average agreed normal working week at 37.6 hours and the retail sector the longest at 38.4 hours. Collectively agreed paid annual leave entitlements stood at 25.1 days across the EU. These were slightly higher in the EU15 countries (26.4 days) and considerably lower in the more recent Member States (21 days).

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Libcast’s Online Video Platform in the limelight at BETT 2015 — 28 January 2015, 16:17 CET

Libcast of France will be showcasing its Online Video Platform at BETT 2015 in London, in January. The specialist company’s innovative and versatile solution enables users to host, manage and broadcast lectures live or in streaming mode. With 200,000 users, Libcast’s technology has already been chosen by many universities and schools, including leading colleges in France and Norway.