Documents competitiveness 692 results

"The digital transformation of Europe's economies and societies is accelerating. It is entering a next phase, fuelled by a fusion of technologies that gradually blur the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres and push the frontier of what computers are capable of doing. These new technologies – and the new business models they create, building on the use of data – are
progressively coming to maturity for at-scale deployment, and will increasingly impact all sectors of the economy. In section 2 of this report, we discuss a set of such high-impact technologies and applications, for example, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, advanced robotics, virtual and augmented reality, and their potential impact on Europe's economy, the labour market, and wider society."

"Some major battles were won by Ryanair pilots and cabin crew in the 2018 transnational strike, including trade union recognition and the application of national labour law, but the war is far from over. Now focused on a full economic recovery following the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company is still playing hardball in industrial relations. And with the ascent of rival airline Wizz Air, labour standards risk sinking to even lower levels in Europe's ‘low-cost' aviation industry."

"Freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law are among the fundamental values upon which the European Union is founded. They are enshrined in the EU Treaties and lie at the heart of the EU's identity. Yet these values have come under great pressure in recent years. Europe has faced unprecedented crises, which amplified social and economic inequalities and put into question EU citizens' trust in democratic institutions. Our European values cannot be taken for granted. In these testing times, the support of civil society in gathering the voices of European citizens is key to building democratic resilience and shaping the future of Europe. At the same time, civil society itself needs greater protection. The space in which civil society operates is increasingly shrinking, limiting the capacity of civil society organisations to do legitimate work in the EU and the rest of the world. Throughout the next mandate, we at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) will step up our unique position as a gateway between citizens, civil society and EU institutions, acting as a true platform for honest and inclusive debate. We will make sure that the doors of our house are open for a fact-based and meaningful democratic dialogue, involving a broad range of social, economic, political, cultural, and institutional actors. In our decision-making, we will strive for well-informed compromises that will strengthen the position of our Committee and provide a meaningful contribution to EU policies."

"Lors de la grève transnationale de 2018, les pilotes et le personnel de cabine de Ryanair avaient remporté quelques grandes batailles, notamment la reconnaissance syndicale et l'application du droit du travail national. Néanmoins, la guerre est loin d'être terminée. Désormais concentrée sur une reprise économique complète après le choc de la pandémie de Covid-19, l'entreprise continue à employer la manière forte dans les relations employeurs-travailleurs. L'ascension de Wizz Air, compagnie aérienne rivale, risque de faire chuter les normes de travail à des niveaux encore plus bas dans le secteur de l'aviation "low cost" en Europe."

"Policy makers in a number of nations are currently developing carbon capture and storage (CCS) as an industrial decarbonisation solution, linking capture potential in industry clusters to domestic or overseas offshore storage capacity. However, the design, focus and timeframe for policy support are proving challenging in countries like the UK, where industry actors are concerned about the competitiveness implications of additional operational capital costs, while government aims to offer only transitory policy support. Policy-facing research is required to understand the drivers, nature and extent of potential competitiveness loss from adopting carbon capture in specific industry and country contexts, along with the impacts of policy decisions in other countries and of possible future technology improvements. We consider the case of the UK chemicals industry, using an economy-wide computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. This highlights how macroeconomic and sectoral impacts of concern under regional, industry and climate policy agendas depend on domestic and export demand responses to changing industry prices. A crucial question is whether capture costs are similarly reflected in international prices. We identify a risk of policy commitment to ‘polluter pays' having sustained negative outcomes for capture firms, along with offshoring/leakage of jobs and GDP, and associated emissions, as demand shifts to lower cost overseas production. However, such costs could be reduced, and some capture industry gains realised, if competitors in other nations ultimately follow in bearing similar costs and particularly if ‘early mover' action enables firms to make efficiency gains and build comparative advantage in operational carbon capture."

"The EU has become a leading protagonist of decarbonisation in the era of challenging international competitiveness. This research aims to investigate a relationship between energy costs pushed by decarbonisation (case of electricity) and the export competitiveness of EU countries. Within panel regression, the authors used unit energy costs (UEC) for electricity and analysed export competitiveness via domestic value added in gross export from the TiVA database. The research proved the negative effect of increasing unit energy costs for electricity on export competitiveness, but only at the entire industry level. The even stronger negative effect of increasing energy costs was found among EU13 countries (new members and industry-based countries). The original and most important findings bring UEC data for the EU countries, prove different effects of decarbonisation on export competitiveness within the EU27, and investigate selected decarbonisation effects on energy intensive industries. The results related to the potentially harmful and diversified effects of decarbonisation commitments on export competitiveness are essential for further “green” reforms policies of the EU."

"The box provides an analysis of the recent increase in inflation differentials in the euro area countries and its impact on price competitiveness. To a certain extent, inflation differentials are normal in a currency union, insofar as they reflect temporary adjustments to shocks or are associated with catching-up processes. However, in other cases, inflation differentials may reflect persistent diverging cost developments, possibly related to a spillover of energy and/or food price shocks into labour cost differentials, or structural challenges such as nominal and real rigidities in product and labour markets. In such cases, inflation differentials may cause significant shifts in price competitiveness that need to be addressed by structural policies and/or countercyclical fiscal policy. Several euro area countries with legacy external imbalances have improved their price competitiveness in recent years when compared with the pre-pandemic period, while others have recorded considerable losses in price competitiveness."

"The objective of sustainable development cannot leave aside the relevance of short-term benefits, long-term negative externalities, and opportunity costs of actions implied by the complex relation economy-society-environment. The transition to a green economy cannot be based exclusively on win-win solutions for all involved parties but requires taking into consideration potential trade-offs between several objectives. The EU strategy for achieving sustainable development and energy security is materialised in the project European Green Deal, which sets courageous goals. Our paper groups the advantages and disadvantages of EGD policies, using exploratory and descriptive research. In this context, we analyse, based on interviews and a questionnaire, the perception of students who have taken Economics courses and are familiar with the topics of externalities and economic policies in relation to the challenges posed by the European Green Deal. While the initiators of this project expect the increase of energy efficiency of the EU states, the encouragement of cleaner industrial activities, the reduction of pollution and of other threats related to global warming, and assuring a more sustainable future for the European economy, the main concerns are related to social costs and loss of European companies' competitiveness. Our findings identified some costs regarding international transactions' financial aspects and competition, while the main benefits were related to environmental protection. Policy implications of this study refer to a more rigorous configuration of policy measures, through expanding the studies regarding the perception of the energy policy, for a wider and better public understanding and acceptance of its benefits and implications."