The European Union has gone through a crucial period marked by growing anti-EU sentiments and the difficult implementation of its largely renewed socio-economic governance. After years of in-depth innovations and the hope of reinvigorating the E(M)U social dimension, European institutions have engaged in a lively debate on how to exit the recession and relaunch the integration project. While most Member States have continued to pursue punitive austerity programmes – at a time when 27 million Europeans are unemployed and a quarter of the EU population is at risk of poverty – most stakeholders (namely the trade union movement) and policymakers agree on the need for an EU-driven growth strategy. This 2013 edition of Social developments in the European Union provides key insights from analysts and scholars. Through the critical assessment of the EU economic governance of the last few years, contributors have set guidelines for a reinforced EU social protection and investment plan. The proposals for a pan-European unemployment insurance scheme and an EU minimum income scheme are analysed together with a renewed focus on the gender dimension of European social policies. Beyond economic and social governance, this volume critically reviews national reforms of labour market policies. While the state of the European economy is still gloomy, the institutional and policy reforms proposed here represent an opportunity to unveil a new path for Europe.

2010 was a critical year for the European Union (EU) in at least three major respects. First of all, many EU countries started showing signs of increased financial stress, while the eurozone began to be affected by a true debt crisis extending well beyond the highly publicised case of Greece. Secondly, the European Union strove to achieve renewal through its first steps to implement the Lisbon Treaty that had come into force on 1 December 2009. The third reason why 2010 represented a turning point for the EU is that the ten-year Lisbon Strategy, launched by the European Council in March 2000 as a framework for EU socio-economic policy coordination, formally reached its end in June 2010 when EU leaders adopted the new Europe 2020 Strategy. All of these developments will have deep and long-lasting effects on social policy at both national and supra-national level. This 2010 edition of Social developments in the European Union examines the ways in which the EU has tackled the main challenges related to the fiscal crisis, the first steps towards implementation of the Lisbon Treaty and the launch of the EU2020 Strategy. The volume sheds light on a number of aspects including the risks for the European social model and European integration project, the state of the debate on revision of the Stability and Growth Pact, the impact of the economic and financial crisis on pensions, the new ‘EU employment policy roadmap’ and, more generally, the tensions, risks and opportunities generated by Europe 2020.

2011 was a year marked by some key progress in European integration: new moves towards Treaty revision, new rules for economic and budgetary coordination, and a more evident role of the EU in national policymaking. In parallel, the destabilisation of the euro zone progressed: the long-term effects of the Greek crisis have not been tackled by European policymakers, while tension shifted from the EU periphery to the very core of the euro zone. Most Member States pursued punitive austerity measures. All these trends undoubtedly represent worrying signs for the future of the European Social Model. The European Union is therefore dealing with crucial questions about its future sustainability: the fate of the euro is in jeopardy, as is the very meaning of the European integration project. A new compromise is needed between economic competitiveness and social solidarity. Otherwise, the risk will be an increase in public disaffection towards Europe and reciprocal accusations of egoism and lack of strategic views among the Member States. This 2011 edition of Social developments in the European Union examines the ways in which the EU has changed in this turbulent phase. Institutional innovations were paralleled by new economic governance tools and further reinforcement of the austerity paradigm. Beyond economic governance, this volume sheds light on the state of European social dialogue, the role of structural funds, the fate of the social dimension of Europe 2020, and the activities of the European Court of Justice. Analysis of the EU level is complemented by a critical review of national reforms, especially in the case of health care.

The sixteenth edition of Social policy in the European Union: state of play has a triple ambition. First, it provides easily accessible information to a wide audience about recent developments in both EU and domestic social policymaking. Second, the volume provides a more analytical reading, embedding the key developments of the year 2014 in the most recent academic discourses. Third, the forward-looking perspective of the book aims to provide stakeholders and policymakers with specific tools that allow them to discern new opportunities to influence policymaking. In this 2015 edition of Social policy in the European Union: state of play, the authors tackle the topics of the state of EU politics after the parliamentary elections, the socialisation of the European Semester, methods of political protest, the Juncker investment plan, the EU’s contradictory education investment, the EU’s contested influence on national healthcare reforms, and the neoliberal Trojan Horse of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The EU has experienced serious economic and political crises such as the sovereign debt crisis and Brexit in the past few years. However, despite these issues, the EU has implemented considerable institutional, fiscal, and collective improvements during the unification process to continue as a significant actor in the global economy. The Handbook of Research on Social and Economic Development in the European Union provides a multidisciplinary evaluation of the institutional, economic, and social development of the European Union and makes inferences for the future dynamics and collaborations of the EU, the global economy, and other countries. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as energy security, gender discrimination, and global economics, this book is ideally designed for government officials, policymakers, world leaders, politicians, diplomats, international relations officers, economists, business professionals, historians, market analysts, academicians, researchers, and students concerned about the multifaceted integration processes surrounding the EU.

In the process of transitioning to the New Normal model of society and economy, business models, development patterns, and structural transformations have started to become major instruments in creating the new reality. Creating the basic conditions and promoting the sustainable economic development criteria for contemporary communities needs not only a massive rearrangement of the classical structures but also a rethinking of the old economic paradigm to promote new business models and sustainable entrepreneurship. Sustainable Growth and Global Social Development in Competitive Economies fulfills a gap between theory and practice in the field of resilient economies, sustainable growth, and global social development in the New Normal. It also provides some holistic approaches regarding business models, development patterns, and transformations in the New Normal paradigm. Covering key topics such as globalization, business process modeling, and resource economics, this premier reference source is ideal for business owners, managers, government officials, policymakers, industry professionals, researchers, academicians, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.

This book examines the potential role of European Union law in combating poverty and social exclusion in the European Union. Anti-poverty strategies have been part of the European Union agenda for decades. Most saliently, over a decade ago, the EU’s Member States pledged to lift 20 million people out of poverty. In spite of this commitment, the EU did not even meet a quarter of this target, and over 113 million people still were at risk of poverty and social exclusion by the end of 2020. This book addresses the incongruence between a quite developed EU policy strategy and a well-embedded legal objective on the one hand, and the lack of direct legal action on the other. Analysing the role of social policy instruments, fundamental rights, and the constitutional framework of the European Union, it makes a detailed case for a contribution of EU law to the policy objective of combating poverty and social exclusion. Drawing on work in law, politics, social policy and economics, this book will interest scholars and policymakers in the areas of EU law, labour and social security, human rights, political science and social and public policy.

This interdisciplinary book consists of three parts which examine the European Union policies on research and innovation, education and life-long learning, as well as the European Union Pillar on social rights and youth policies. In the first part, high-level experts analyze the European Research Area and its current enhancement, with emphasis on mobility and employability of researchers, especially in times of crises.In the second part, the governance architecture of the European Education Area(s) is explored and the new objectives of the Bologna Process, as well as the EU institutional framework of the recognition of skills and qualifications, are analyzed. Life-long learning is also important for the individual development of human capital especially for socially vulnerable people who could also benefit from literacy policies and skills development. The second part concludes with the evaluation of the EU education and training policy based on social indicators in the framework of the EU 2020 Strategy.In the third part, the book turns to Social Europe and the balancing between ordo-liberalism and ordo-socialism. It examines the EU Pillar of Social Rights and its impact on youth policies. It analyzes the EU youth policies e.g. on youth credit and their interaction with young people’s employment and education possibilities, with emphasis on the young people "not in education, employment or training" (NEETs).

Social policy reforms driven by profound social changes have been a popular and pressing topic worldwide in recent years in both policy and academic circles. In this book, prominent social policy scholars from Europe, North America, and Asia discuss the history of social policies, compare different social development models, and analyze the challenges facing these economies' social policy reforms. The book provides comprehensive and comparative perspectives and updated data on social development and social policy reforms in the world's major economies, and particularly, in mainland China.

This is the first book to provide a comprehensive and systematic assessment of the impact of the crisis and austerity policies on all elements of the European Social Model. This book assesses the situation in each individual EU member state on the basi