Documents Europe 458 results

"Plus d'Europa ou moins d'Europa ? Sans hésiter, Georges DEBUNNE répond que la "Non-Europe" coûte cher aux travailleurs ! Profondément convaincu que le sort de l'Europe et du syndicalisme européen sont liés, l'auteur décrit la naissance de la Confédération des Syndicats Européens, ses démarches et ses actions. Comme acteur et pionnier de la C.E.S., Georges DEBUNNE se prononce nettement pour la relance de la dimension européenne et la conjugaison du progrès économique et du progrès social pour lutter contre le cancer du chômage. Pour faire face aux mutations économiques, technologiques et aux bouleversements de la société, l'auteur se prononce pour des "consensus socìaux", des "accords cadre", pour créer "un climat social" qui permettrait à I'Europe de jouer pleinement son rôle dans le monde. "

"The aim of this paper is to showcase different decarbonization pathways for Germany and Europe with varying Carbon dioxide (CO2) constraints until 2050. The Global Energy System Model (GENeSYS-MOD) framework, a linear mathematical optimization model, is used to compute low-carbon scenarios for Europe as a whole, as well as for 17 European countries or regions. The sectors power, low- and high-temperature heating, and passenger and freight transportation are included, with the model endogenously constructing capacities in each period. Emission constraints differ between different scenarios and are either optimized endogenously by the model, or distributed on a per-capita basis, GDP-dependent, or based on current emissions. The results show a rapid phase-in of renewable energies, if a carbon budget in line with established climate targets is chosen. In the 2° pathway, the power and low-temperature heat sectors are mostly decarbonized by 2035, with the other sectors following. Wind power is the most important energy source in Europe by 2050, followed by solar energy and hydro power. The heating sector is dominated by biogas and heat pumps, while electric vehicles emerge in the transportation sector in the later periods. Differences in renewable potentials lead to different developments in the regions, e.g., converting Germany from a net exporter of electricity into an importing country by 2050. In the 1.5° pathway, not all calculations are feasible, showcasing that especially countries like Poland or the Balkan region that heavily rely on fossil fuels will face difficulties transitioning away from their current generation capacities. It can, however, be shown that the achievement of the 2° target can be met with low additonal costs compared to the business as usual case, while reducing total emissions by more than 30%."

"Foreword:
The rise of right-wing populist movements and parties is an almost universal phenomenon in Europe. Right-wing populist tendencies are not without consequences for trade unions. On the contrary, the patterns of social interpretation propagated by right-wing populism are highly problematic for trade unions: There is a danger that the solidarity of workers will erode and fragmentation will be amplified, which, in turn, will negatively impact the solidarity-based policy of interests in companies and beyond. It is to be feared that right-wing populist threats will ul-timately lead to the reduction of universalist-oriented workers' rights and social welfare bene-fits based on collective agreements. The economic, labour, and social policy discourses and practices of many right-wing populist parties in Europe have similar overall objectives and methods, with individual party peculiari-ties making each group unique. A key commonality can be found in the identification of the “social question” as an essential reference point in the struggle for political interpretative power and political majorities. The trade unions perceive right-wing populism, albeit to different degrees, as a force that endangers and calls into question the solidarity-based representation of interests through, on the one hand, the strategic weakening of trade union solidarity relations and, on the other, a frontal attack on the trade unions themselves. This is directed, above all, against trade unions' institutional power. Against this background, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), in accordance with the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), initiated a Europe-wide study at the beginning of 2022 to examine trade union options for dealing with right-wing populist forces. This investigation in-cluded the commissioning of a sequence of 12 country studies and a comprehensive com-parative analysis of the political processes and trade union experiences in the participating countries. Despite the often similar, or at least comparable, situations in which the European trade un-ions find themselves when dealing with right-wing populist forces, the process of inter-union learning has been rather underdeveloped to date. This study is intended as a contribution to the promotion and reflection of the cross-border exchange of information and experience. The aim is to explore whether and how trade unions can learn from each other in the face of similar challenges and sometimes quite different operating contexts. It is aimed at trade union activ-ists and members, decision-makers in the political partner spectrum of the FES, and an inter-ested public."

"Understanding of the macroeconomic effects of climate change is developing rapidly, but the implications for past and future inflation remain less well understood. Here we exploit a global dataset of monthly consumer price indices to identify the causal impacts of changes in climate on inflation, and to assess their implications under future warming. Flexibly accounting for heterogenous impacts across seasons and baseline climatic and socio-economic conditions, we find that increased average temperatures cause non-linear upwards inflationary pressures which persist over 12 months in both higher- and lower-income countries. Projections from state-of-the-art climate models show that in the absence of historically un-precedented adaptation, future warming will cause global increases in annual food and headline inflation of 0.92-3.23 and 0.32-1.18 percentage-points per year respectively, under 2035 projected climate (uncertainty range across emission scenarios, climate models and empirical specifications), as well as altering the seasonal dynamics of inflation. Moreover, we estimate that the 2022 summer heat extreme increased food inflation in Europe by 0.67 (0.43-0.93) percentage-points and that future warming projected for 2035 would amplify the impacts of such extremes by 50%. These results suggest that climate change poses risks to price stability by having an upward impact on inflation, altering its seasonality and amplifying the impacts caused by extremes."

"The chapter investigates labour shortages, skills needs and mismatches by examining skills and qualifications and their use in the labour market so as to assess the position of post-2014 migrants, refugees, asylum seekers in the workforce and identify barriers and enablers for their labour market integration.

The chapter also explores the position of post-2014 migrants, refugees, asylum seekers in the workforce for seven countries (Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Finland, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) to build a comprehensive assessment of labour market barriers and enablers. The chapter presents cross-national comparative research at two levels. At the first level, it focuses on the characteristics (skills and qualifications) of post-2014 migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in each country under investigation, in order to evaluate the integration progress and determine the drivers behind unemployment and inactivity. At the second level, the chapter focuses on specific features of each country, including: productive structure, employment composition by sector of economic activity, occupations and skills, labour flows, unemployment rates, level of skills as well as the overall macroeconomic situation."

"This chapter discusses the role of civil society organisations (CSOs) in the labour market integration of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers (MRAs) in the selected countries addressed by the book. It examines the positions of CSOs and their perception by newcomers. Our findings suggest that CSOs can work as important actors enhancing not only integration into the labour market but also integration through the labour market. However, such a capacity is unevenly spatially distributed, Moreover, CSOs either individually or collectively, frequently raise the problematic situation of illegal practices on the part of employers, exploitation, human trafficking or underpaid wages. Furthermore, CSOs help to mitigate and, often together with MRAs, struggle against the hostile context of a widespread atmosphere of xenophobia. Although we conclude the CSOs primarily work as enablers of the MRAs' integration in the labour market, our critical analysis also suggests that CSOs can in some nuanced ways hinder the labour market integration. Last but not least, we focus our attention on the enablers facilitating or barriers hindering the migration-related initiatives of CSOs and therefore on the process indirectly influencing MRAs' labour market integration."

"A soft landing for Europe's economies is within reach. Securing the baseline of growth with price stability will require careful monetary policy calibration. Faster fiscal consolidation would ensure buffers are adequate to tackle future shocks, while structural fiscal reforms would help address mounting long-term expenditure pressures. Beyond the near-term recovery, raising potential growth prospects calls for efforts at both the domestic and European levels. Measures should aim to raise labor force participation, prepare the workforce for looming structural shifts, set an enabling environment for private investment, and promote innovation on a level European playing field—especially when it comes to the green transition, including through a strong commitment to carbon pricing. Greater European integration would amplify the effect of these reforms. Formulating an ambitious set of growth-enhancing reforms should be a key priority of a new EU commission."