Documents Lisbon strategy 244 results

"This article outlines measures adopted in national social security schemes to promote the (re)integration into work of people with disabilities. The measures are evaluated in the light of broader reform trends, stemming from EU policies to foster labour market participation. Since the beginning of this century, the EU has played an active role in confronting national authorities with the need to design employment policies in which competitiveness and economic growth go hand in hand with measures that ensure that disadvantaged groups have equal access to the labour market and receive effective support to access employment. Recent statistical data show, however, that the employment position of disadvantaged groups is still weak. This would seem to suggest that the social quality of national schemes to foster labour market participation falls short of expectations. To gain insight into this matter, thirty European countries were asked to draw up national reports on the employment position of people with disabilities within the framework of the EU-funded MISSOC project. This article presents a synopsis of the main findings from these reports. It starts with an overview of relevant developments at the European level (section 1). A framework for the evaluation of the social quality of national programmes to promote the (re)integration into work of people with disabilities is then developed in section 2. The results of the evaluation are presented in section 3, thereby focusing on measures addressing people with disabilities on the one hand (sections 3.1 and 3.2) and measures addressing the employer on the other hand (section 3.3). The evaluation winds up with some concluding observations with regard to the way in which the social dimension of employment policies has been implemented in national schemes to promote the (re)integration into work of people with disabilities (section 4)."

"This article considers the interaction between labour law and employment policy at European Union (EU) level in the light of recent political and legal developments. It begins with a consideration of the relationship between labour law and policy as a function of the political compromise at the foundation of the EU (i.e., its establishment on an economic rather than social basis). This article then discusses the application of the relationship between labour law and policy in terms of the policy provisions of Directive 2000/78 (derogation on 'employment policy grounds') as opposed to the policy provisions of the atypical work directives (the policy of 'flexicurity'). It considers these directives in the light of the recent development of case law in this area (e.g., Case C-555/07, Kükükdeveci v. Swedex Gmbh & Co. KG and its relationship to C-144/04, Mangold v. Helm ) and illustrates the difficulties of the inclusion of policy objectives within the law. This article then goes on to assess the future relationship between law and policy in the EU and particularly the potential impact of incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms 2000 into the Lisbon Treaty on the development of labour law and policy."

"The ambition of the Lisbon strategy is to make Europe the most competitive region in the world by 2010. Halfway into the ten-year strategy this ambition appeared to be unlikely to be achieved. In response, the Commission relaunched the strategy in 2005. The basic idea behind the relaunch is that EU competitiveness will be boosted by focusing on two policy instruments: flexibilization and modernization of the social policies of Member States. This paper offers a critical review of the strategy, arguing that the results of the revised strategy may turn out to be unsatisfactory, because of potential obstacles associated with these instruments. The conclusion is that a coherent flexicurity approach alone will not be sufficient, and that a more balanced approach to modernization should also be developed."

"The interplay between labour markets and welfare states is at the core of debates about the new Europe, which will be shaped as the result of the Lisbon process. Recently the concept of ‘flexicurity' has moved to the centre of the discussion. Can interfaces between welfare states and labour markets be developed, where flexibility and security come together having ‘flexicurity' as the outcome? How can flexicurity develop within different national employment systems? Can the design and implementation of flexicurity arrangements be guided by a set of common principles on flexicurity?"

"This paper aims to capture the implications of the Lisbon Strategy (LS), and in particular the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), for the future of Social Europe (SE) at EU level in a diachronic perspective. To do so, three intellectual exercises will be carried out. In the first part I outline the contours of the LS, its aims, achievements, assessments and the reforms it has undergone. The second part presents what I consider to be the structuring meta-features and main characteristics of Social Europe at EU level over 50 years of functioning: 12 key features will be provided for a meta-level analysis. In the third part, I examine to what extent the LS in its social and employment dimensions and the various OMC processes are in line with these 12 key features: the idea is to point out which of these ‘traditional' features are taken up and carried forward by the LS (a continuity scheme), and which are the features for which the LS differs from the previous approach, opening new routes for Social Europe (a discontinuity scheme)."

"This paper places the European agenda of ‘flexicurity' in a broader context. It explains how flexicurity connects to fundamental and historical characteristics of European Union labour market organization. It shows how flexicurity and the European Employment Strategy (EES) manifest a fundamental shift from EU law to EU policy. It explores the connection between flexicurity and the European Union's agenda vis-à-vis globalization, particularly in light of the Lisbon Strategy. A broad and critical overview is given of the European Globalization Adjustment Fund (EGAF), the EU's own and pioneering flexicurity tool in facing the labour market challenges of globalization."

"Depuis le lancement de l'euro, les économies de la zone euro ont connu des disparités persistantes et souvent croissantes. Ces disparités sont sources de tensions en Europe ; elles rendent difficile la mise en œuvre de politiques économiques communes, tant structurelles que conjoncturelles. L'article présente un panorama des divergences en termes de croissance et d'inflation et de la persistance de certains déséquilibres (chômage, déficit extérieur). Quatre explications sont présentées et discutées : les avantages donnés par la monnaie unique aux pays en rattrapage ; les défauts de l'organisation de la politique économique dans la zone euro ; le caractère non coopératif des politiques économiques nationales qui aurait entraîné trop de compétition et pas assez de coordination et aurait particulièrement nui aux pays les plus grands ; enfin la crise du modèle continental face à la mondialisation. Quatre stratégies sont discutées : la flexibilisation des marchés ; la marche vers l'économie de la connaissance préconisée par l'Agenda de Lisbonne ; la renationalisation des politiques économiques ou une nouvelle organisation de la politique économique européenne plus orientée vers la croissance."