Beyond averages - Fairness in an economy that works for people

Growing disparities on multiple socio-economic dimensions have contributed to a sense of unfairness and discontent in Europe. Fairness is a subjective phenomenon, but the far-reaching consequences of perceptions of unfairness warrant a closer look at its drivers and underlying dynamics. The report, written before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, analyses some of the most pertinent dimensions of fairness in relation to the agenda for a fair, inclusive and social European Union. Income inequality, educational inequality and the challenges facing existing welfare state arrangements are discussed from a pre-crisis perspective. Thus, the report gives a snapshot of the state of fairness in Europe before the COVID-19 outbreak and provides a benchmark against which some of the consequences of the current situation can be evaluated.JRC.I.1-Monitoring, Indicators & Impact Evaluatio

The Onlife Manifesto: rethinking the human condition in a hyperconnected era

The pervasiveness of the changes induced by the deployment of ICTs is such that there is a need to rethink and reconfigure the concepts on which policy frameworks are built. Policy frameworks are still relying on omniscience/omnipotence utopia. It is suggested that Hannah Arendt's framing of the human condition, based on natality and plurality can inspire a renewed sense of what it means to be human in a hyperconnected world. It opens the way for policy-making to shift away from a risk-based and parenting attitude, towards a literacy-based and partnering one, which can vibrate with the collective societal intelligence being expressed in the shaping, uptake, resistance and appropriation of ICTs by individuals and communities

L’administration européenne au défi de la philosophie (et inversement)

European administration challenged by philosophy (and vice versa) – This paper consists of a philosophical dialogue between Nicole Dewandre and Edoardo Ongaro. This dialogue begins with a series of cross-questionings, nourished by their different positioning both with regard to philosophy and in their relationship to the object “administration”. After an initial exchange in which they introduce themselves after having read each other, the dialogue discusses the cardinal authors of our two protagonists to drift by touch on a relational conceptualization of the administrations and the civil servants who compose them, as well as the great politico-practical stakes that they must now face

L'Europe au soir du siècle, Identité et démocratie

On peut jouer avec son destin, on le trompe rarement. L'Europe en sait quelque chose. De champ de bataille, elle est devenue, pour une partie d'elle-même, et sous la protection bienveillante des Américains, un modèle d'intégration régionale. Aujourd'hui, chacun sent poindre la croisée des chemins. Dans un monde où les repères sont chaque jour moins nombreux, où les incertitudes gagnent sans cesse en intensité, l'Europe deviendra-t-elle acteur de l'histoire ? Ou sera-t-elle au contraire condamnée à l'impuissance par la volonté des Etats-nations de se replier sur leurs particularismes au nom de la préservation de leur identité ? Depuis sa fondation - "plus jamais la guerre entre nous"- la question du sens de la construction européenne ne s'étaite guère posée avec autant d'acuité qu'en ce soir de siècle. La dimension politique de la construction européenne refait surface. Tant son rôle international que son organisation interne sont en question. Le défi est de taille : il s'agit de renouveler nos conceptions de l'identité et de la démocratie

Spectroscopic properties of few-layer tin chalcogenides

Stable structures of layered SnS and SnSe and their associated electronic and vibrational spectra are predicted using first-principles DFT calculations. The calculations show that both materials undergo a phase transformation upon thinning whereby the in-plane lattice parameters ratio a/b converges towards 1, similar to the high-temperature behaviour observed for their bulk counterparts. The electronic properties of layered SnS and SnSe evolve to an almost symmetric dispersion whilst the gap changes from indirect to direct. Characteristic signatures in the phonon dispersion curves and surface phonon states where only atoms belonging to surface layers vibrate should be observable experimentally