*** GUNTHER SCHMID: Full Employment in Europe. Managing Labour Market Transitions and Risks. Edward Elgar Publishing (Glensanda House, Montpellier Parade, Cheltenham, Glos GL50 1UA, UK. Tel: (44-1242) 226934 - Fax: 262111 - Internet: http://www.e-elgar.com ). 2008, 385 pp. ISBN 978-1-84720-520-9.
If one talks about full employment in these times of economic crisis, one will be accused by many of being utopian. It is, however, true that while the current situation makes things fare more difficult now than in the past three decades, full employment becomes a true imperative in terms of arming oneself against challenges like globalisation, individualisation, transnationalisation and, more important still, social cohesion in a European Union characterised by socio-economic differences among its Member States. And full employment is a priority in the Lisbon Strategy, after all. In a more or less explicit manner, the EU employment strategy sets the bar of full employment at 70% of people of working age being in employment. It has to be admitted, however, that many EU Member States are finding it difficult to reach this target, a trend only reinforced by the rounds of EU enlargement in 2004 and 2007...
This is where this book by Gunther Schmid, director of the research unit on labour market policy and employment at Berlin's scientific research centre, comes in. Quoting Stieglitz's idea that unemployment is the most dramatic failure of the markets, the author starts as he means to continue. But this is not the book's true value-added. From Gunther Schmid's perspective, employment is also an essential element of social inclusion. He explains that in the new context of social exclusion, full employment means flexible careers that change over one's lifetime, access to resources that make it possible to access employment at critical transition times and the option of fully participating in all important spheres of social life. There is therefore a full task ahead, particularly given the problematic mismatch between workers' skills and qualifications and the job market. Noting these problems, Gunther Schmid reconsiders both the targets that have been set and the resources implemented at EU level, drawing up a complete balance sheet and comparing it against US performance with a view to finding ways of improving it. A highly ambitious approach that he implements most energetically.
The book is divided into eight chapters - the notion of full employment and how to achieve it; assessment of the Lisbon Strategy targets; steps to be implemented in order to achieve them; comparing the performance of the employment systems of certain Member States with the United States; analysis of risky transitions; perception and management of social risks; new forms of governance; and the possibility of mixing flexibility and job security. As far as the author is concerned, it is in the latter possibility that the road will be found for emerging from what he describes as a successful employment system: based on the theory of transitory labour markets looking at all mobility options and social bridges between various employment situations, he deduces a raft of normative and analytical principles that can be used to improve the functioning of institutions. In the final chapter, the author gives examples of good practice for the management of critical transitions throughout life (moving from education to employment, moving from one job to another, from unemployment into employment, private activities to paid work and moving from employment into retirement), while raising the question of the viability of unemployment benefits. In a Europe where flexibility and jagged careers of spurts of employment are becoming the norm, the author recommends setting up a life-work benefit system that takes volatile income into account, along with the risks inherent in discontinuous careers. Here we therefore have the suggestion that the theory of labour and job markets should be institutionalised, which is capable of intensifying the growth effect on employment, argues the author, and avoiding the growing fragmentation of the labour market between insiders and outsiders.
From more of an institutional viewpoint, the author's focus on the Europeanisation of labour markets should also be noted, with the book's enlightened and interesting analysis of the potential of the 'Open Coordination Method,' taking account of the different social stakeholders involved in the process. The book is without doubt a must-read reflection on the notion of full employment and a source of inspiration for the establishing of the knowledge-based economy that is such an aspiration for Europeans.
Thomas Bauwens
*** CHRISTIAN JOERGES, FLORIAN RÖDL: Von der Entformalisierung europäischer Politik und dem Formalismus europäischer Rechtsprechung im Ungang mit dem "sozialen Defizit" des Integrationsprojekts. Ein Beitrag aus Anlass der Urteile des EuGH in den Rechtssachen Viking und Laval. Zentrum für Europäische Rechtspolitik an der Universität Bremen (Universitätsallee, GW 1, 28359 Bremen, Deutschland). "ZERP-Diskussionspapier" series, No. 2. 2008, 22 pp, €8.
This essay by two researchers from Bremen University's European Legal and Political Studies Centre contributes to the debate arising from the rulings of the European Court of Justice in the 2007 Viking and Laval cases. In these two labour law cases, the Court affirmed the primacy of competition law over welfare legislation. The authors posit that a credible reaction to the European social deficit is necessary to ensure the democratic legitimacy of a plan for profound integration. Addressed from various angles which the two authors do not claim to discuss in great depth, the book examines the dichotomy of free trade Europe versus social Europe.
(EPi)
*** CHARLES-ERIC CLESSE: Travailleurs détachés et mis à disposition. Droit belge, européen et international. De Boeck/Larcier (39 rue des Minimes, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5480711 - Fax: (32-10) 482750 - Internet: http://www.larcier.com ). "Droit social" series. 2008, 482 pp. ISBN 978-2-8044-2894-5.
This book explains the legal background to the practice of sending workers to work in other countries, 'seconded workers'. It is divided into three sections. The first looks at Belgian legislation, which bans secondment and provision of workers in a law issued on 24 July 1987 but which is accompanied by eight exceptions outlined in other legislation. The author describes the principles, how they are set out in labour and tax law and makes a detailed assessment of the steps to be taken to follow the rules, describing the various penalties for failure to respect the legislation. He underscores the weaknesses of the system, challenging the principle of banning secondment, preferring a system of general authorisation, along with prior permission from the competition authority. He calls for a reflection group to be established to study harmonisation of the procedures and penalties. In addition to this already very comprehensive analysis, the author goes on to examine EU Directive 96/71 setting out the rules to be respected for seconded workers and the international conventions signed by Belgium, with articles on the secondment of workers and how their rights to social security are to be guaranteed in the country of origin. The book provides in-depth analysis of a little known legal framework that is hard to piece together, but for which the author predicts a promising future.
(TBa)
*** MASSIMO FLORIO (Ed.): Cost-Benefit Analysis and Incentives in Evaluation. The Structural Funds of the European Union. Edward Elgar Publishing (Glensanda House, Montpellier Parade, Cheltenham, Glos GL50 1UA, UK. Tel: (44-1242) 226934 - Fax: 262111 - email: info@e-elgar.co.uk - Internet: http://www.e-elgar.com. 2007, 335 pp. ISBN 978-1-84720-238-3.
Transport, electricity, gas, telecoms, services, social infrastructure, industry and more - over the next ten years, the European Union will help promote thousands of infrastructure projects, social products, industry and more (and the growing economic crisis makes this more necessary than ever) with the aid of Structural Funds and other financial and regulatory mechanisms. This is a serious challenge for institutions, national governments, regional management authorities and other public or private companies. With this book, the authors want to help them meet the task. How? By making use of the applied cost-benefit analysis (CBA), which is undergoing a genuine renaissance in Europe due to a conviction that infrastructure can play an important role in EU integration and the EU is a key player in this regard. The authors therefore look at how CBA can improve the planning process and the assessment of infrastructure. To this end, they make a three step analysis, looking at the international experience, assessing a transport and environmental project and identifying key parameters for CBA. This very detailed analysis calls for the drawing up of harmonised rules for calculating certain virtual key prices (public transport, energy, etc) and other performance indicators.
(TBa)
*** ROBIN SMAIL, LUC BROOS, ELSA KUIJPERS: Managing Structural Funds. A Step-by-Step Practical Handbook. European Institute of Public Administration (P.O. Box 1229, 6201 BE Maastrcht, The Netherlands. Internet: http://www.eipa.eu ). 2008, 262 pp, €70. ISBN 978-90-6779-207-3.
Written to fill gaps in official legislation and working documents, research and articles, this book is, as its title indicates, a practical guide. The programming and management tasks inherent in managing the EU Structural Funds, particularly since the new rules came into force, are described in great detail and chronological order. The authors have divided the book into three sections. The first describes the new background to setting up programmes and operations; the second studies programme management (starting operations, financial management and auditing, evaluation and conclusion of programmes) and the last looks at project management (the role and responsibilities of candidates and managers). This step-by-step guide is highly comprehensive and professional and will help political decision-makers in the Member States manage the Structural Funds with the facts at their fingertips.
(TBa)
*** CLAUDIUS KOBEL: Herausforderungen und Möglichkeiten nationaler und supranationaler Rentenpolitik nach des EU-Osterweiterung Eine intergenerationelle Analyse anhand des deutschen und polnischen Systems. Peter Lang (1 Moostrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3471727 - email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Europäische Hochschulschriften - Publications Universitaires Européennes - European University Studies" series. 2007, 408 pp, €64. ISBN 978-3-631-56250-5.
Investigating the national and supranational challenges of pensions policy after countries in Eastern Europe joined the European Union, the author of this book makes an inter-generational analysis of the German and Polish pensions system. The starting point is that the increasing mobility of workers in the European Union has an impact on national pensions systems. Can pension systems survive the pressure of competition in the Common Market? Are the various national pension systems facing incompatible EU procedures? Claudius Kobel answers questions of this ilk by comparing and contrasting the Polish pensions system based on contributions and the German, productivity-oriented system. Western countries are suffering from an ageing and shrinking population which has a great impact on their pensions systems. What role is the EU playing in this big challenge for the twenty-first century? This book provides valuable food for thought, opening a key debate about the pioneering nature of EU integration and its aim to lead to a genuine political, economic and social policy.
(EPi)
*** INGVAR LUNDBERG, TOMAS HEMMINGSON, CHRISTER HOGSTED (Eds.): Work and Social Inequalities in Health in Europe. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes/Peter Lang (1 avenue Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Work & Society" series, No. 58. 2007, 538 pp, €34.90. ISBN 978-90-5201-372-5.
The Danish authors of this research examine the extent to which issues like social status, income, education and working environment influence health. They look at eight EU Member States and the state of Massachusetts in the United States, comparing their job markets and working conditions and contrasting them with social class and health levels in the countries concerned. The empirical study gives an idea of the extent to which the inequality and the degree to which differences in social class explain differences in health.
(NDu)
*** GISELE MARLIERE (Ed.): Niveau de vie et coûts relatifs à la santé et l'aide à domicile. Association socialiste de la personne handicapée (ASPH, 32/38 rue Saint-Jean, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5150265 - Fax: 5150658 - email: asph@mutsoc.be - Internet: http://www.asph.be ). 2008, 60 pp.
Representing more than 50,000 disabled people or people suffering from chronic diseases in Belgium, the ASPH has carried out a study of their members' lives and how much they have to pay for medical consultations, paramedical care, household adjustments and home help. The figures will leave readers shivering with horror because the study reveals that few of the individuals concerned escape from poverty, of a dramatic scale at times, and huge or excessive financial costs even if they escape poverty. The ASPH calls for greater efforts to raise awareness among decision-makers.
(MT)