Enhancing the Effectiveness of Social Dialogue Articulation in Europe (EESDA) Project No. VS/2017/0434 Comparative policy recommendations on improving social dialogue articulation and effectiveness in Europe

The history of European social dialogue dates back to the mid-1980s with the Val Duchesse social dialogue initiative by the European Commission. The aim then was to involve social partners in the internal market process. This initiative was followed by the Single European Act of 1986, which served as the legal basis of the community-wide social dialogue and established a steering committee, which then became the main bipartite body, known as the European Social Dialogue Committee. Following the Act of 1986, another turning point in the history of social dialogue was the Treaty of Maastricht in 1991, which paved the way for agreements negotiated by social partners to become legally binding by means of a Council decision. Later, the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 included an Agreement on Social Policy representing the single common framework for social dialogue across all Member States, resulting in the implementation of a cross-industry Framework Agreement on Parental Leave (1996)3, Part-time Work (1997)4 and Fixed-term Work (1999)5 as Council directives. The Lisbon Treaty of 2009 further emphasised the need for autonomy and diversity within the social partnership in Europe

Labour Market and Social Policy. CEPS Policy Priorities for 2019-2024, 4 October 2019

The mega-trends of digitalisation and automation have already changed labour markets and value chains around the world, with their inevitable economic and social consequences. And the pace of change is accelerating; job markets and skills requirements are evolving faster than traditional labour market practices and institutions. But what exactly are these changes, and how will governments, industry leaders, social partners and workers react to them

Study on up- and re-skilling in micro and small enterprises. CEPS Project Report 26 JUN 2020.

Skills development is necessary to face changes in the labour market, led by important transformations such as digitalisation, ageing populations and climate change. Given the importance of micro and small enterprises for the EU economy and employment, the study provides insights into the main challenges faced by those companies, potential opportunities stemming from up-skilling and re-skilling activities as well as policy options

Index of Readiness for Digital Lifelong Learning Changing How Europeans Upgrade Their Skills. CEPS FINAL REPORT NOVEMBER 2019

Digitalisation – or the transformation of processes through new digital technologies – is changing the skills required to work and live, but also how we acquire, assess, and demonstrate our skills and education. This broad trend is known as the digitalisation of learning. The Index of Readiness for Digital Lifelong Learning (IRDLL) attempts to shed light on the issue by creating a scoring system and ranking EU Member States. The Index is composed of three ‘pillars’ – composite indicators developed to capture the different dimensions and challenges of digital learning: 1) Individual’s learning outcomes; 2) Availability of digital learning; and 3) Institutions and policies for digital learning. The report details the Index’s construction as well as results, alongside current trends in digitalisation of learning in Europe, providing timely policy pointers to European- and national-level policy makers. The Index of Readiness for Digital Lifelong Learning (IRDLL) is a result of collaboration between the Jobs & Skills Unit of CEPS and Grow with Google. It arose from a long-standing interest of both parties in digitalisation of education and the labour market

Social Innovation in the Temporary Agency Work Industry. CEPS Project Report 01 Dec 2020.

This study presents a selection of 15 social innovation practices, from the temporary agency work sector and beyond, for skills enhancement and training, working conditions and social protection. Implemented across nine countries across Europe, this geographical coverage allows consideration and comparison of different socioeconomic and institutional contexts in which social innovation takes place. Moreover, one practice is implemented worldwide and several others have this potential. This report was commissioned jointly by the World Employment Confederation-Europe (WEC-Europe) and UNI Europa Temporary Agency Work in the framework of the European sectoral social dialogue on temporary agency work. The research for this study was conducted in full independence by CEPS (Sara Baiocco, Willem Pieter de Groen, and Zachary Kilhoffer) and the Research Institute for Work and Society (HIVA) at KU Leuven (Karolien Lenaerts)

Study on the accounting regime of limited liability micro companies. CEPS Project Report. Final study. July 2019

This is the study on the accounting regime of limited liability micro companies for the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA). The study consists of a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the application of the super simplified reporting regime for micro companies as defined in the new Accounting Directive (2013/34/EU). This study finds that the EU had, at the end of 2016, 16.8 million limited liability companies in the scope of the Directive. Among these companies are 14.2 million companies (84.4 %) that would be defined as micro companies according to the maximum criteria in the Directive and 11.7 million companies (69.7 %) according to the national size criteria in the 22 Member States that have implemented the super simplified regime. Based on the available information from a survey among micro companies and other stakeholders in eight EU Member States, we estimate the current one-off costs of familiarising with the new regime at EUR 27 million and the ongoing burden reduction at EUR 106 million per year. If size criteria were fully aligned with the Directive, the costs and benefits would be slightly higher. However, it clearly emerges that the extensive lack of awareness about the super simplified regime appears a far more important factor than the different thresholds adopted in national legislation. Under the assumption of full awareness among micro companies, the estimated costs and benefits would increase by almost a factor of ten to EUR 0.33 billion in one-off costs and EUR 1.29 billion in annual benefits from a reduced administrative burden. This study is prepared by CEPS in collaboration with LSE Enterprise and Bureau van Dijk for the European Commission, Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. The information and views set out in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission. The European Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this study. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on the European Commission’s behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein. The original paper and the executive summary are also available on the European Commission’s webpage. © European Union, 2019

Sustainability in the Age of Platforms. CEPS Special Report. June 2019

Over the past few decades, new digital platforms such as China’s Alibaba, Japan’s Rakuten and the U.S.’s eBay have grown from startups into multinational giants. With a few clicks of the keyboard, these online marketplaces bring together a seller and a buyer from anywhere in the globe. This study examines the transformative impact of online marketplaces on economic, social and environmental sustainability. It finds great opportunities. Platforms promote growth, break down barriers of distance and leap over rigid class structures, bringing marginalized outsiders into the mainstream. The study also identifies dangers stemming from the growth of e-commerce, from the reduction of labor protection to an explosion of shipping waste. What are the responsibilities of platforms? How can they promote sustainability? Policymakers are asking these questions, but struggling to find the correct balance between the opportunities against the dangers. Until now, these questions have received little attention from scholars. This study fills a much-needed void by providing some initial answers and recommendations for improvement

The role of sensation seeking and motivations for eating in female and male adolescents who binge eat

Objectives: Although different personality traits have been associated with the onset and maintenance of binge eating, the role of sensation seeking is still not well documented. The aimof the present study was to investigate the role of sensation seeking and motivations for eating in male and female adolescents who binge eat. Methods: 336 adolescents (196 boys and 140 girls,mean age 17.48) completed a survey composed of Binge Eating Scale, Motivation for Eating Scale, and Brief Sensation Seeking Scale. Results: Our results showed that for female adolescents, binge eating was significantly correlated with age, body mass index (BMI), Environmental and Emotional Eating. Hierarchicalmultiple regression analysis indicated that BMI was a significant positive predictor of binge eating; Emotional and Physical Eating accounted for 34% of the variance. For male adolescents, binge eating was significantly correlated with age, BMI, Boredom susceptibility, Experience seeking, environmental, Social and Emotional Eating. The most significant variables that contribute to binge symptoms,were age and BMI (that accounted for 16% of the variance), Experience seeking and Boredom susceptibility (11%) and emotional eating (18%). Conclusions: Our results provided support for emotional motivations as significant triggers for binge eating be- havior in bothmale and female adolescents. Although two sensation seeking dimensionswere significant predic- tors of binge eating in males, sensation seeking was not associated to binge eating in the female subsample

Cognitive and affective empathy in binge drinking adolescents: does empathy moderate the effect of self-efficacy in resisting peer pressure to drink?

Binge drinking during adolescence is influenced by peer pressure and group norms as risk factors. Conversely, drinking refusal self-efficacy is a protective factor. Thus, adolescents with impaired social skills could be more vulnerable to binge drinking. However, there is still little research on impaired social abilities, such as low empathy, in adolescent binge drinkers. This study aimed to investigate the moderating roles of empathic concerns and perspective-taking in the relationship between self-efficacy in resisting peer pressure to drink (SRPPD) and binge drinking. Participants were 188 Italian adolescents (Mage = 16.93, SDage = 0.76; age-range: 15–19). Self-report instruments were administered. Binge drinking was evaluated with an open response item according to the clinical definition of symptoms; SRPPD was assessed with an item from the Perceived Self-Efficacy scale; empathic concerns and perspective-taking were measured with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index scale. A moderation regression analysis was run. Results showed that binge drinking is positively predicted by age, and negatively predicted by SRPPD and empathic concerns. Only perspective-taking proved to be a moderator in the relationship between SRPPD and binge drinking. In the presence of low perspective-taking, adolescents with low SRPPD reported more binge drinking than adolescents with high SRPPD. Conversely, for adolescents with high levels of perspective-taking, low SRPPD did not predict binge drinking. Our results shed light on patterns of cognitive and affective empathy in binge drinking adolescents, providing relevant implications for research and prevention for at-risk teenagers

Exploring the association between psychological distress and drunkorexia behaviors in non-clinical adolescents: the moderating role of emotional dysregulation

Although drunkorexia seems to represent a new form of eating disorder, it shares several features with traditional eating disorders. However, very little is known about the association between drunkorexia and a widely studied correlate of eating disorders, such as psychological distress and about mechanisms underlying this association. The present study aimed to investigate the relation between symptoms of anxiety and depression and drunkorexia, and to explore the role of emotional dysregulation as moderator of this relationship