New Forms of Employment

Societal and economic developments, such as the need for increased flexibility by both employers and workers, have resulted in the emergence of new forms of employment across Europe. These have transformed the traditional one-to-one relationship between employer and employee. They are also characterised by unconventional work patterns and places of work, or by the irregular provision of work. However, little is known about these ‘new forms of employment’, their distinctive features and the implications they have for working conditions and the labour market. To fill this knowledge gap, Eurofound conducted a Europe-wide mapping exercise to identify the emerging trends. This resulted in the categorisation of nine broad types of new employment forms. On the basis of this, the available literature and data were analysed; 66 case studies were also conducted and analysed to illustrate how these new employment forms operate in Member States and their effects on working conditions and the labour market

Social Dimension of Intra-EU Mobility: Impact on Public Services

Freedom of movement of citizens constitutes one of the core values of the European Union and is closely linked to European citizenship. There is, however, a heated debate in many of the destination Member States about the impact of intra-EU mobility on their public services. The debate centres on the ‘welfare magnet hypothesis’, which holds that migrants, including mobile citizens from the central and eastern European Member States, are attracted by the better quality of these services and easier access to them in the host countries. The issue has become highly politicised recently, especially as a consequence of the economic crisis and the increased inflow of these EU mobile citizens. The main objective of this research project is to explore whether there is any evidence to support the welfare magnet hypothesis. It examines the take-up of benefits and social services by mobile citizens from 10 central and eastern European Member States (EU10 mobile citizens) in 9 host countries – Austria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK – compared to the native populations and other citizen groups. It also seeks to identify the obstacles to their integration in the host countries and initiatives to aid their integration

The Potential of ICT in supporting Domiciliary Care in Germany

This report documents the findings of the study on the potential of ICT in supporting the provision of domiciliary care, with particular attention to the case of immigrant care workers and informal caregivers in Germany. This country study was launched by JRC-IPTS in 2008 in parallel with two complementary country studies, assessing the situation in Spain and the UK, with the same focus and objectives. All three studies were prompted by the findings of a previous exploratory study on the use of ICT by immigrant care workers in Italy. In Germany, the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) for health and social care is playing an increasingly important role in the context of the demographic changes. As, on the one hand, people are getting older and the need for care is increasing, and, on the other hand, the number of formal and informal caregivers is decreasing, technical devices are seen as a possible solution to this dilemma. At the same time, people in need of care and their relatives have a tendency to informally employ private care assistants, often from migrant backgrounds, to assist those in need of care in their homes with daily tasks, so as to avoid and postpone their transferral into institutional care. This report gives an overview on the situation of domiciliary care in Germany, outlining the current use of ICT in home care and by domiciliary caregivers. It investigates the opportunities for ICT in home care and identifies drivers and barriers for the deployment of ICT by caregivers with a particular focus on migrant care assistants. The research undertaken in this and the other national reports is exploratory in nature. The study employs a triangulation of methods, comprising desk-based analysis of existing reports and scientific publications; analysis of information and service web sites; and field work involving direct questioning of experts, service providers, and a sample of carers and care workers, including immigrants.JRC.DG.J.4-Information Societ

Making regulation responsive to commercial interests: streamlining drug industry watchdogs

New prescription drugs are developed and tested for quality, safety, and efficacy by the pharmaceutical industry, and little or no drug testing is conducted by governments in modern industrialised countries. Governments have regulatory authorities which have a legal duty to protect public health by ensuring that new drugs are not licensed unless they are of adequate quality, safety, and efficacy (box 1). The thousands of birth deformities and deaths caused by thalidomide focused public and professional concerns on how the commercial interests of pharmaceutical companies may diverge from, or conflict with, the interests of patients and public health. The reasoning behind the creation of new government regulatory authorities in the post-thalidomide era was therefore that they should be “entirely independent” of the commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry and should act on behalf of the public interest by checking the adequacy of the test data produced by the industry.1–3 I explain how these government regulatory authorities in the European Union, which were initially established to provide independent scrutiny of pharmaceutical firms in the interests of public health, have become increasingly responsive to the commercial interests of the industry (box 2

A new track for technology: Can ICT take care for healthier lifestyles?

The paper takes a look on potential contribution of Information and Communication Technologies to abate public health challenges caused by demographics and lifestyle. From the current convergence of mhealth, and sport market products emerge targeting normal athletes to control their training in a quantified manner. The resulting feedback and transparency foster a healthier lifestyle. These products and services help overcome limitations to innovation typical to the health care market. The paper is based on research by the European Commission's Institute for Prospective Technological Studies on Integrated Personal Health/Care services. --eHealth,Integrated Personal Health/Care services,sport,training,lifestyle related disease,innovation

EU Disability Law : An overview

Altres ajuts: LEAD-ME Cost Action (CA19142)Xarxa promoguda pel grup de recerca TransMedia Catalonia

Current policy issues in the governance of the European patent system

The European Parliament has been working towards building a discussion platform and a resource for further policy actions in the field of intellectual property rights. The Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel has set the goal of further enlarging the area of investigation in light of recent policy developments at the European level. In particular, the current study covers current policy issues in the governance of the European patent system, such as the backlog issue, the enhancement of patent awareness within the European Parliament, patent enforcement, the regional dimension of intellectual property in Europe, patents and standardisation, the use of existing patents, and patents and competition. These issues were discussed in the conference with stakeholders from European to national patent offices, from private to public sector actors. As a result of the conference, it was stated the need for an IP strategy for Europ

Estonia in transition under the restrictions of European institutional competition

After the fundamental changes of the early 1990s and before Estonia joined the EU, many neo-liberal economists regarded Estonia as their model student - due to the country's economic principles. Economic growth has been positive from 1995 on (except in 1999) until 2007, and above the EU average. During this period, GDP per capita and productivity have grown from just under a third of the EU average to 70 per cent of it in 2007. Today the attitude towards Estonia has slightly changed, because Estonia has involved into global economic crises and in decline stage of local trade cycle simultaneously. The transformation process in Estonia is an extreme case within a number of similar cases in Central and Eastern Europe. After regaining its political independence, Estonia established a liberal and democratic society. Since 1992 Estonia has pursued one of the most liberal trade policies in the world. The state budget is subject to the balanced-budget principle. In as early as 1998, 85% of companies were privatized. The currency board system tied the Estonian currency, the Eesti kroon (EEK), to the German mark (DEM) at a rate of about 8:1. To round the picture off: agricultural subsidies were abolished and a flat income tax rate was introduced. This article seeks to analyze Estonia's transition under the restrictions of European institutional competition in more detail. The first and second part analyses some areas of transition macro- and micro-policies that have been suggested that Estonia applies in order to a) join EU and b) catch up within the EU. The third part deals with Estonia's position in international economic competition up to the present time. We define Estonia's strong and weak points in system competition today as result the transition policy. As can be shown, there is still a great need for convergence in economic performance compared to the EU average. --Institutional economics,transformation,economic integration,Estonia