Excellent research,but insufficient valorization? The case of the European Transport Research in the 7th Framework Programme

This article reports on the findings of the Europe Union (EU) project “Enhancing the capacity of EU transport projects to transform research results into innovative products and services” (TIPS) funded in the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development. The project was coordinated by Steinbeis Innovation gGmbH, the ICCR Foundation was in charge of the survey study. The purpose of this study was to survey project coordinators under the auspices of the European Commission. The study was not intended as an evaluation exercise, but the subjective view of the coordinators might produce a certain bias. Most coordinators are aware of the “hybrid” character of the European research programme. They usually address industrial stakeholders while claiming policy relevance for their projects. Of course, not all projects can meet both spheres: some projects have a merely technical character, and others address only politics and policies. But the overwhelming majority of the projects deal with both issues.     

Statistical resource needs to be increased in the European regulatory agencies

The following viewpoint from PSI and EFSPI regarding the current level of statistical resource in the European regulatory agencies was first presented as a position paper to a meeting of the EU Heads of Agencies in July 2009, and was endorsed by EFPIA. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender mainstreaming and evaluation in the EU: comparative perspectives from feminist institutionalism

This article presents a focused comparative analysis of the institutionalization of two governance practices in the European Commission that levy distinct challenges to the gender status quo: gender mainstreaming (which overtly challenges gender bias) and evaluation (which does not have explicit feminist aspirations). With reference to five dimensions, we identify evaluation as relatively strongly institutionalized, and gender mainstreaming as relatively weakly institutionalized. We draw on the explanatory power of feminist institutionalism to unpack these findings, arguing that a feminist institutional perspective can shed light on this variation, as it provides greater insight into the formal and informal institutions that constrain, enable and shape the implementation of evaluation and gender mainstreaming. We assert that the notion of path dependency, the logic of appropriateness, and the concept of layering serve as useful tools to understand the gendered nature of the European Commission. This research provides insights into the institutional factors that impact the implementation of gender equality strategies (such as gender mainstreaming). In turn, this contributes to the development of more effective strategies to promote institutional change toward greater equality.     

The Impact of the Removal of the Multi-Fiber Arrangements on Tunisian Textile and Clothing Exports

To evaluate the effect of the dismantling of the Multi-Fiber Arrangements on the Tunisian exporting textile and clothing sector, we divided the suppliers of the EU into three groups: local suppliers, constrained by the contingent, and non-constrained, among them figure Tunisia. In the same way, we used Armington’s technique, which consists in differentiating the products by country of origin. The results showed that with the abolition of the quotas, the second group succeeded in increasing its exported quantity by 50%, and attended an increase in value of 30% for its sales. On the contrary, the third group saw its exported quantities decreasing by 30%, and the value of its sales outside, by 16%. Tunisia belonging to the third group would see its share of market, which was ensured by the quotas decreasing appreciably. It would lose 16% of its exports in value, and 30% in quantity. The implications of the results for the Tunisian textile and clothing sector strategies are discussed.

The Portuguese Disinflation Process: Analysis of Some Costs and Benefits

This study aims to analyse the Portuguese economic policy of disinflation through a nominal stabilization policy of the Portuguese escudo. We study the pegging of the Portuguese escudo to the deutschmark knowing the reputation of the Bundesbank for its anti-inflationary record. The acceptance of German monetary policy allowed the Portuguese economy to achieve its primary goal of price stability. The nominal stability policy of the escudo may serve as an example for other small economies that may be presently involved in the European integration process such as the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia.

Results of a Quality of Work Life Index in Spain. A Comparison of Survey Results and Aggregate Social Indicators

The European Union launched the Lisbon Strategy in 2000 with the aim of establishing itself as the world’s most powerful economy. The importance of job quality has returned to the top of the European employment and social policy agenda. As targets are set, significant progress has been made in the creation of indicators. In this study, we compute a composite index for quality of work life using the dimensional structure provided by the European Commission, and present our results for regions, sectors, professional categories and sizes of firm in Spain in the period 2001–2004. We find that better results are found in the more developed regions, in service sectors, in bigger firms and in jobs with more responsibility. Finally, we compare the results of the index with workers’ subjective perceptions of job satisfaction, measured by a quality of work life survey. The test results reveal a strong relationship between the two measurements.     

Work-Life Conflict and Social Inequality in Western Europe

Recent debates on time-use suggest that there is an inverse relationship between time poverty and income poverty (Aguiar and Hurst in Q J Econ C(3):969–1006, 2007), with Hammermesh and Lee (Rev Econ Stat 89(2):374–383, 2007) suggesting much time poverty is ‘yuppie kvetch’ or ‘complaining’. Gershuny (Soc Res Int Q Soc Sci 72(2):287–314, 2005) argues that busyness is the ‘badge of honour’: being busy is now a positive, privileged position and it is high status people who work long hours and feel busy. Is this also true of work-life conflict? This paper explores the relationship between work-life tension and social inequality, as measured by social class, drawing on evidence from the European Social Survey. To what extent is work-life conflict a problem of the (comparatively) rich and privileged professional/managerial classes, and is this true across European countries? The countries selected offer a range of institutional and policy configurations to maximise variation. Using regression modelling of an index of subjective work-life conflict, we find that in all the countries under study, work-life conflict is higher among professionals than non-professionals. Part of this is explained by the fact that professionals work longer hours and experience more work pressure than other social classes, though the effect remains even after accounting for these factors. While levels of work-life conflict vary across the countries studied, country variation in class differences is modest. We consider other explanations of why professionals report higher work-life conflict and the implications of our findings for debates on social inequality.     

Euro-myth: nationalism,war and the legitimacy of the European Union

This article engages with Montserrat Guibernau's argument about the ‘non-emotional’ nature of European identity. In critiquing this argument, this article also advances a broader argument of its own: that we are witnessing an emergent European nationalism. The article suggests that although there are few people who passionately defend European integration today, those that do are increasingly resorting to arguments that depend simultaneously on invoking and rejecting collective memories of intra-European conflict derived from the ‘emotive’ period of European integration in the 1940s to shore up the increasingly challenged legitimacy of the European Union today in its hour of greatest crisis.     

Transnational land investment web: land grabs,TNCs, and the challenge of global governance

ABSTRACT

Despite international media’s waning attention, research and political debates on global land grabbing have not subsided. We argue the importance of understanding the ‘transnational land investment web’ of corporate and state actors and institutions, which are not always immediately visible. Focusing on transnational corporations (TNCs) based in the European Union (EU), we examine five sets of actors and institutional spheres through which these actors are able to grab lands beyond Europe. It is crucial to understand these not as individual sets of actors or institutions, but as interconnected sets, comprising a web. These are EU-based: (1) Private companies using regular institutional platforms; (2) Finance capital companies; (3) Public–private partnerships; (4) Development Finance Institutions; and (5) Companies using EU policies to gain control of land through the supply chain. One implication of this complex web is that democratic governance in the context of land grabs becomes an even more daunting challenge.     

EU countries’ progress towards ‘Europe 2020 strategy targets’

This paper describes and analyzes EU Member States’ progress towards the national EU2020 targets. To do so, this paper constructs a geometric composite index with Benefit-of-the-Doubt weights as a measure of a Member State’s overall performance on the EU2020 headline indicators. A tripartite decomposition of Member State performance change is presented to explain and analyze performance change of the EU-region and the individual EU Member States during the period 2008–2014. The results reveal that all Member States are in general making progress towards their national targets. Member States generally moved forward in the areas of R&D, environmental and educational policy and moved backwards in terms of employment and poverty and social inclusion. As to the realization of the national targets, the majority of the Member States are still mostly lagging on R&D and social inclusion and poverty reduction.