European Social Policy articles from December 2003

European Social Policy archives from December 2003

JOBS JARGON GALORE.
December 16, 2003... Member States can surely have no excuse for not implementing reforms to improve their labour markets in 2004. The end of 2003 has seen such a raft of reports and recommendations on the issue that no one could possibly claim that they do not...

OCTOBER JOBLESS RATE STABLE IN OECD COUNTRIES.(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2003... The standardised average unemployment rate in the OECD zone was stable at 7.1% in October 2003, 0.1% higher than the same time last year. In the Euro zone, the standard rate stayed at 8.8% in October 2003, 0.3% higher than the same time last...

CoR OPINION ON THE OPEN METHOD OF CO-ORDINATION.(Committee of the Regions)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2003... The Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted an Opinion on November 19, pressing for the respect of subsidiarity in the implementation of the Open Method of Co-ordination. The Opinion was the CoR's response to the Commission's May 2003...

CANCER SCREENING RECOMMENDATION WELCOMED.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2003... The organisation 'European Women for HPV Testing' welcomed the Council of Ministers' adoption of a Recommendation on cancer screening on December 3. The Recommendation urges Member States to introduce national screening programmes, in line with...

EIB LENDS OXFORD UNIVERSITY [pounds sterling]25 MILLION FOR RESEARCH.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2003... The European Investment Bank (EIB) approved a loan of [pounds sterling]25 million on December 9 to support research facilities at Oxford University in the United Kingdom and the commercialisation of research findings. The funds will be used to...

STUDY ON IMPACT OF POPULATION AGEING ON PENSIONS.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2003... The European Commission's Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs has carried out a study into alternative measures for analysing the long-term sustainability of public finances with ageing populations. It also presents a method...

EU ENDORSES SRI LANKA ACCORD ON RE-ADMISSION OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.(European Union)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2003... The EU Council of Ministers has approved an Agreement that the European Commission negotiated with Sri Lanka requiring the two parties to take back each other's illegal immigrants. The endorsement of the re-admission accord came on November 25...

COURT SLAMS GERMAN ENROLMENT OBLIGATION ON SKILLED FOREIGN PLASTERERS.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2003... Plasterers wishing to provide their services in another Member State should not be forced to enrol in a "skilled trades register", the European Court of Justice has found in a preliminary ruling handed down on December 11 (Case C-215/01). The...

TRADE UNIONS UNHAPPY WITH LAGARDERE-VUP/EDITIS MERGER PLAN.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2003... As discussions between the European Commission and Lagardere enter their final phase, opponents of the merger of the French group and Editis (previously Vivendi Universal Publishing) have used the consultation period to speak out. The...