social policy

Roma integration programmes can actually make a real difference 1
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 18/02/2019
An integration project in a village in eastern Slovakia, Spišský Hrhov, is a success story of Roma inclusion. It sets an example for policy-making and strategic targeting of funding for both the EU and other Member States. The EU urgently has to achieve higher value for money in future integration efforts.
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Beware: Nobody wants to be lonely 0
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 15/01/2018
Ageing in Europe comes with more profound side effects than uncertain budgets and welfare state spending do. One of them is old age loneliness that exacerbates one’s health and social integration. Parallel to designing a policy framework on a communal level to combat loneliness, one should rightfully consider approaching the issue from an every-day, personal angle.
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Pan-European pension schemes – a way to close the pension gap 0
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 22/11/2017
The Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) is a Commission-led proposal to close the pension gap in a cost-effective way. Its benefits would eventually spread across multiple fronts: improving the sustainability of pension systems, strengthening the current fiscal and macroeconomic framework, unlocking long-term investment, and contributing to deeper economic integration.
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European Pillar of Social Rights: a blunt weapon in the fight for citizens’ hearts 0
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 06/09/2016
The EU licks its wounds after the Brexiteers’ narrow victory in June. The Union’s support base, which has crumbled under the EU’s reaction to the economic crisis, needs an answer to prevent further decay. That answer might take the shape of what the EU is still largely lacking: a social rights dimension. But can the EU successfully wield this very sensitive national competence to fight the fear to lose authority? The answer is in the dosage. If social rights are the EU’s weapon of choice to fight its negative image, the Pillar is a blunt knife to the European citizens’ heart.
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When wage competition outcompetes the single European market 0
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 09/08/2016
In an utterly predictable move, Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen fought off the EU’s third-ever yellow card. The objections to her proposed amendment to the Posting of Workers Directive signalled, as usual, more than subsidiarity-related distress. But even with the yellow card spat easily shoved aside, the disagreement spells trouble: if anything, the dispute reveals a lack of vision that puts the very idea of the internal market at risk.
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Less employment protection, more jobs?0
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 04/08/2016
Following the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and the subsequent great recession, many of the OECD countries implemented structural reforms on employment protection legislation, aiming to enhance the flexibility of the labor market. This was believed to have a positive influence in preventing the reduction of existing jobs and promoting the creation of new ones. But do flexibility-enhancing reforms actually contribute to boosting employment?
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