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The European Works Council (EWC) Directive provides the establishment of a social partnership forum within Multinational Companies (MNCs). The directive gives employees the right to information and consultation with the supra-national group management. The aim of this concept paper is to contribute to the debate on the Europeanization of Industrial Relations (IR) in the European Union. Specifically, it assesses the influence that EWCs, a novel institution within certain Euro-companies, have on the convergence of industrial relations among the member states. This critical topic can be evaluated from the standpoint of the current theory and its practical implications in order to draw the perspectives for a European system of IR both within MNCs and the rest of the companies. Our conclusions indicate that EWCs contribute to Europeanization in several aspects of employee relations, although this contribution has been limited to those issues that are wished for by the MNCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What types of policies has the European Union (EU) implemented to control migration flows in recent decades, and what are their strategies? This paper aims to explore the measures developed by the EU to manage migration flows and identify how they operate. While a securitisation approach, such as activities of border control, has been widely discussed by scholars in this field, it is worth exploring and understanding other kinds of instruments aimed at curbing irregular flows through executing programs such as the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), developed in the aftermath of the Arab uprisings to address the "root causes" of the displacement. In light of this, this research conducts a case study and qualitative content and descriptive analysis of documents on the EUTF. Preliminary findings indicate patterns in what motivated the EU to undertake these actions and present the main strategies of the Fund in the North Africa region. However, some factors may have led to disappointing outcomes for the EUTF, such as the increase, in 2019, of nationals leaving the North Africa region towards Europe, as reported by UNDESA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Could the European Union mitigate the negative effects of economic, pandemic and environmental crises using only one tool? The answer is positive, by implementing "green" fiscal expansion financed by "green" common debt, such as issuing green bonds. In this paper, we connect the independent responses to different crises into a single response that could end them. The European Union's theoretical background is based on new-classical models, but current research findings doubt new-classical orthodoxy, underling the importance of economic federalism for sustainable economic and green growth. We argue that the Economic and Monetary Union has to speed up fiscal federalism by establishing a powerful European Union common budget using green Eurobonds and implementing fiscal transfers as a mechanism to address the consequences of the triple crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews how young people's education-to-work transitions have changed since 1989 in former communist countries that have subsequently become full members of the European Union (EU). The sudden collapse of the command economies led to an equally abrupt breakdown in earlier routes into working life. Subsequently, the new independent states have reconstructed their education and training, and their market economies have developed. They now exhibit similar variations in rates of youth unemployment, progression through higher education, and mixtures of academic and vocational secondary education as older EU member states. However, there are features that continue to set all ex-communist countries apart, irrespective of whether they have become full EU members. These are low local rates of pay and westward migration. Its new member states have joined the Southern countries in a European periphery. Yet, there may be sufficient winners in the European core and periphery to keep Europe united. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, youth unemployment has been the focus of attention of international and community bodies in the area of social rights. Specifically, there is a need to promote attitudes and skills to access employment, decent work, and entrepreneurship. The measures implemented have not been effective. In 2023, Spain had the highest youth unemployment rate in the European Union (29.6%). An improvement in the level and quality of education and training of young people would reduce their level of unemployment. Entrepreneurship education is, therefore, a necessary value in the society of the 21st century since it is a tool for the development and growth of the younger population. In the entrepreneurship education model proposed in this study for adolescents, we focus on the capacities of self-efficacy and personal initiative as precursors of entrepreneurial behavior. This paper analyzes the differences between the mean values of the variables before and after the implementation of the educational program and the influence or correlation between the variables. The main results are threefold: (i) the educational program implemented improves the mean values of the two variables analyzed; (ii) self-efficacy exerts a positive or direct influence on personal initiative, and (iii) the educational program improves or reinforces the positive influence of self-efficacy on personal initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the complex relationship between climate change and migration in Africa, with a specific focus on Senegal—a West African nation increasingly vulnerable to climate threats such as drought, rising sea levels, floods, and salinisation. As a significant origin country for irregular migration to the European Union (EU), Senegal presents a compelling case study to explore how extreme climatic conditions interact with other migration drivers. This article does not aim to quantify or measure the extent to which climatic factors and variability contributed to migration decisions. Instead, building on original empirical material, it seeks to map and explore how climate variability interacts with other migration drivers, either by amplifying them or acting in synergy with them, thereby offering a fresh perspective of the complex dynamics at play. Additionally, this article investigates the extent to which the EU addresses and integrates climate considerations into its policy responses to address migratory flows and people's vulnerability in countries of origin. This analysis reveals that the integration of climate factors as an amplifier and a synergist is a 'missing link' in the EU approach in the case of Senegal, with significant implications in terms of the effectiveness and long-term sustainability of EU action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing has been, and continues to be, a central concern of economic, geographical and political research, as well as of social debates. It is worth noting that the European Union (EU) does not possess exclusive or shared competence in the field of housing. Rather, its influence is the result of policies in other areas. Building on the call in the literature to examine both Europeanisation and housing studies, we present and discuss the areas of the EU's influence—economic, environmental, legal, political, social, and urban. The literature shows that these influences have resulted from different shifts in the European agenda, with different approaches (top-down, bottom-up) and mechanisms (legislative, economic and fiscal, cognitive), creating conflicting housing narratives. In conclusion, future research should focus on understanding the influences of member states as well as the intersection between housing and other policy areas. Additionally, the distribution and transfer of power in decision-making within the EU should be examined, as well as the strategic interactions between (housing) political actors from different member states and EU institutions, and the consequences of such interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we aim to describe how the Operational Programme for the Support of Disadvantaged People (POAD), part of the European Fund for the Most Disadvantaged People (FEAD), has contributed to reducing the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion in Romania. We highlight the role of the auxiliary measures that accompanied the food support programme, as well as the added-value element of the implementation of the programme in Romania, emphasising the introduction of electronic social vouchers for hot meals for the eligible target group and electronic social vouchers to provide educational support for disadvantaged children. The research methodology used considered combinations of quantitative and qualitative methods, combining multiple data sources to reflect the perspectives of all stakeholders and relating quantitative data to representative samples using a participatory approach. Macro-level data on risk-of-poverty and social exclusion indicators, as well as information from sectoral analyses (social transfers), show an improvement in the situation of people in the POAD target group and a decrease in the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion. However, progress is limited, and it is difficult to determine the degree to which this is due to the POAD. Romania still ranks lowest in the European Union in terms of indicators measuring the risk of poverty and social exclusion. The provision and monitoring of accompanying programmes are an area where the potential of POAD could be further exploited. The need to strengthen the accompanying measures is extraordinarily strong and emerges from the analysis of information provided by final beneficiaries and public authorities responsible for the implementation of the programme. The distribution of social vouchers enables final beneficiaries to choose the goods they need. Purchases with social vouchers are less affected by the risks of financial corrections, final beneficiaries can monitor the consumption of the support received in real time, the number of supporting documents is reduced, and reimbursement is issued only for the amounts used by final beneficiaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]