Eastern Enlargement Of EU Research Articles

Working Conditions under Economic Pressure: The Case of the German Cleaning Industry

This paper investigates changes in collective bargaining policy in the German cleaning industry in recent years. It uses the Socio-economic Panel (GSOEP) to survey employees on employment conditions and expert interviews with key members of the industry to look at possible new paths of development in the industry as well as the range of attitudes of the players involved. The socio-demography of the employees in the industry was given close attention and, with regard to collective labour agreements in the industry, the role of factors such as temporary employment and the EU eastern enlargement were taken into account in light of a climate of economic difficulties. This study uses Berlin to exemplify the current situation in this industry. Key words: Building Caretakers, Precarious Work, Cleaning Industry, German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), Collective Bargaining Policy 1. Introduction The current changes in the working society are being accompanied by considerable challenges, for employees and for the German industrial relations system alike. In the field of research the cleaning industry, with approximately 900,000 predominantly female employees, is being largely neglected.1 The service ,,cleaning consists of the cleaning of surfaces along with that of glass and building exteriors as well as the cleaning of construction sites, both during and after completion. In addition to this conventional activity some undertakings are also developing more complex proposals in terms of a comprehensive Facility Management. In relation to this area we will be dealing exemplarily with two questions in the article at hand: * How did the employment conditions in the cleaning industry look up until the most recent changes in 2003-2004? It is generally assumed that employment conditions in this line of business are especially unfavourable, while some characteristics of the industry, generally binding labour agreements in particular, demand a differentiated evaluation. This question will be addressed in chapter 3 with the data of the Socio-Economie Panel (GSOEP). * How have the general conditions of the industry and the wage bargaining system themselves changed? Through the handling of this question in chapter 4 we will seek to understand how, in the area of contract cleaning, the change in basic economic and legal conditions have impacted on the industry itself. The working of the above questions calls for a theoretical and methodical basis, one that will be described in advance in chapter 2. 2 Theory and Approach 2.1 Research Model We assume here a three-step model consisting of the overall economy, businesses and employees (see Figure 1.) in which the three levels are linked to one another as follows (see Schramm 1999): the macroeconomic situation, to which we can add the current state of affairs of business sectors, branches or industry-wide institutions, acts on the one hand through the perceived working situation and reactions of management, and on the other through the reactions of the employees and public opinion (e.g., with regard to the perceived employment situation). The reactions of management and employees influence operational parameters such as efficiency, which, taken as a whole, have an influence on the macroeconomic situation. The reactions of management also affect, among other things, the adaptation of production, technical and organisational innovations or alterations in labour utilisation strategies. The adaptation of a company in an altered overall economic environment depends on a multitude of factors. The responses of the employees are influenced by the perceived employment or earnings situations. Certain employment situations, depending on varying sociodemographic factors, are perceived by those affected in light of their convictions and general expectations and lead to definite responses, particularly with respect to preferences and well-being as well as notions of behaviour. …

Eastern enlargement of the EU: a comprehensive welfare assessment

The paper derives an equation explaining the various welfare effects of an eastern EU enlargement for an incumbent country. It then quantifies these effects for each present member state of the EU. The quantification is based on a numerical simulation model for Germany, which renders welfare elasticities for various parts of the enlargement scenario, including trade and migration as well as the budgetary costs. Based on calculations of country-specific “enlargement shocks”, the German elasticity values are applied to other EU15 countries. Aggregating across countries gives an EU15-wide overall welfare benefit from enlargement equal to 0.3% of GNP.

Direct tax law implications for the eastern EU enlargement: The case of Hungary

Direct tax law implications for the eastern EU enlargement: The case of Hungary

The Politics of EU Eastern Enlargement: Evidence from a Heckman Selection Model

This paper perceives the politics of EU eastern enlargement to be a twofold process, in which governments of transition countries decide whether or not to apply for membership and in turn EU members decide whether or not to accept these applicants. Specifically, we argue that the level of democracy and the extent of market reforms together determine the first decision, while the second decision is largely determined by the EU observing the reform process in applicant countries imposed by the acquis communautaire conditionality. The natural procedure to test this theory is a Heckman selection model. We use a Heckman specification with panel probit estimators in both stages. The data supports our argument that uncontested reforms signal the policy support of relevant political parties to the EU and increase the likelihood of joining the Union. We also test for specification errors and check the robustness of our findings.

A Currency Crisis in Europe? The Europe's Common Currency and the New Accession Countries

The politically and legally complicated character of the EU Eastern Enlargement heavily influenced the conflict between the legal and economic rationality underlying the construction of the EMR-II. This makes the ERM-II vulnerable to currency crises and creates conditions for a widespread currency and asset substitution in the accession countries. As a result, the required participation of all accession countries in the ERM-II imposes unnecessary costs on the whole enlargement process. The costs could be avoided if the EU adopted a more flexible approach to the enlargement of its monetary union, allowing for an individual path of adopting the euro in each accession country depending on the country?s economic conditions.

Consequences of European Union Enlargement for Spain

This article analyses the effects that EU Eastern enlargement will have on the Spanish economy. As opposed to the widespread belief that the major impact on Spain will stem from the reduction of Community funds received, the impact on two real variables is also analysed here, namely trade and foreign direct investment, and evidence is offered of the restructuring of economic activity in the enlarged Europe and its effects on the Spanish economy. In addition, the competition for Spain of the new partners in the Community market is also examined. One of the most noteworthy results is that the competition of the new members of the European market is becoming stronger, as they have a commercial structure that is becoming more and more similar to Spain's and with a greater technological content. This phenomenon appears to be the outcome of the activity of the multinationals, which are re‐organising their activity and transferring part of their production to Central Europe to capitalise on the cost advantages of the new members and their more strategic geographical situation. Furthermore, evidence is put forward that, if the criteria for eligibility for the Structural and Cohesion Funds are not altered, Spain will be one of the countries in which the budgetary situation will deteriorate most in the post‐enlargement EU.

Governance by conditionality: EU rule transfer to the candidate countries of Central and Eastern Europe

In the process of the EU's eastern enlargement, the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) have undergone a major process of external governance. What are the main characteristics of the mode of EU external governance in this region, and under which conditions is it most effective for the transfer of EU rules to the CEECs? The article presents the findings of a collaborative international research project including comparative case studies of EU rule transfer in a great variety of policy areas and CEECs. They show that rule transfer is best explained by an external incentives model of governance; its effectiveness varies with the credibility of EU conditionality and the domestic costs of rule adoption. The impact of these conditions, however, depends on two contexts of conditionality: democratic conditionality and acquis conditionality.

Europe unites: the EU's eastern enlargement

Enlargement and Integration The Pattern of Previous Enlargements The Eastern Enlargement: Politics and Process Poland Joins the EU Economic Leaders: Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania Romania and Bulgaria: Seeking to Stabilize Southeastern Europe Reforming Agricultural and Regional Policy Treaty of Nice: Essential Reforms Enlargement and the Euro Immigration and Enlargement Justice and Home Affairs Enlargement and the EU's Security and Defense Policy Looking Beyond the Eastern Enlargement Illustrations Abbreviations Appendix: Speech by Joschka Fischer, From Confederacy to Federation Bibliography Index

Will Eastern European Migrants Happily Enter the German Pension System after the EU Eastern Enlargement?

A major concern in Western Europe and especially in Germany is that with the EU eastern enlargement inflows of workers occur, which will be net beneficiaries of the domestic social security systems. We introduce a model and present evidence by comparing pension systems in the main source and target countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic; Germany) that show that immigrants most likely have to face a burden from entering the German pension system. Only if the total number of immigrants is sufficiently large the burden may change into a gain. We conclude that if migration takes place, it will do so despite – not because of – the existence of the pension systems.

EU Enlargement, Migration and the New Constitution

The paper deals with the effects of migration resulting from EU Eastern enlargement on the welfare states of Western Europe. Although migration is good in principle, as it yields gains from trade and specialization for all countries involved, it does so only if it meets with flexible labour markets and if it is not artificially induced by gifts of the welfare state. This is not the present state of affairs in Western Europe. In addition to measures that make labour markets more flexible, the introduction of delayed integration of working migrants and the home country principle for nonworking migrants is a rational reaction of the state. The proposed new EU constitution, which contains far-reaching rules for a European social union, should be amended accordingly. (JEL E 2, F 2, H 0, J 3, J 6)

Slovakia: The Escape from Invisibility by Karen s> Henderson (review)

REVIEWS 771 Finnishjournals in its negative comments on the Jews, often with regard to developments in Nazi Germany. To sumup, the pre-SecondWorldWar'Europebetween' had littlecommon political identity, though afterthe war one was imposed upon a large part of it. Today, these countrieshave gone, or are going, hell-for-leatherwestwards, thus destroying the alleged middle term that is meant to describe them. The cool reception of the Finnishpopulace to NATO and the EU extension shows once again that Finland, unlike Donald Rumsfeld, is hardly overjoyed by these developments. University ofTurku, Finland GEORGE MAUDE Henderson, Karen. Slovakia.TheEscape fromInvisibility. PostcommunistStates and Nations, I4. Routledge, London and New York,2002. iX+ 140 PP. Map. Chronology. Notes. Bibliography.Index. ?50.00. IMAGE mattersin politics. It is a 'tragicirony', arguesKaren Henderson in the preface to Slovakia:7The Escape fromInvisibility, that Vladimir Meciar, 'having become in late 1992 the founding fatherof the independent SlovakRepublic, proceeded to do more than any other individualto perpetuate the bad image of Slovakia' (p. xv). In the week this reviewer sat down to read Henderson's book, however, the racist chants of Slovak football fans during a Euro 2004 championship qualifierdid more to sully the image of Slovakiain the eyes of the average Brit than anything done by the self-declared 'Father of the Nation'. Perhaps more tellingly on the same weekend an advert in the broadsheet press for a budget airline, showing a map with all the company's European destinations, missed out Slovakia, labelling the country within the pre-I993 Czechoslovak borders as the Czech Republic. For some in Europe, Slovakiastillremainsinvisible. Henderson's new book should be required reading not just for advertising executives with a poor grasp of geography, but for all readers of the Slavonic andEast European Review.In I40 pages she guides the reader through the history,politics, foreignrelationsand economic development of Slovakia.The book forms part of the 'Postcommunist States and Nations' series published by Routledge which includes George Sanford'sPoland:TheConquest ofHistoiy (London, i999) and Rick Fawn's TheCzech Republic. ANationof Velvet (London, 2000). Attempting to encapsulatepre-I993 Slovakiahistoryin the space of a mere forty pages might be considered by some historiansto be a forlorn task, but Henderson provides a clear summary of the twists and turns of Slovakia's history through its various incarnations:inter-war Czechoslovakia, wartime puppet state and the Communist centralized then federal state. Despite the brevityHenderson hasmade room fora numberof interestingfacts.She notes, forexample, thatSlovaksheld I7per cent of atotalof 32 ministerialportfolios in inter-warCzechoslovakia of which no fewer than 6o per cent were held by just threemen:VavroSrobar,Milan Hodza and IvanDerer (p. 9). The core of the book analysesthe domestic politics and foreign relationsof independent Slovakia.Henderson does not slip into the facile explanations so 772 SEER, 8 I, 4, 2003 beloved by journalists during the I990S of blaming all Slovakia's woes on Meciar and what is sometimes dubbed the country's backward culture. Instead she provides an account of internal Slovak politics which highlights such factors as the lack of qualified personnel in the ministries, the rapidly draftedconstitution, differentdegrees of development in Slovakia'sregions, a Bratislava-basedelite unable to build bridgeswith the mass Slovakpublic and the salience of the national issue over the usual left-right political cleavage. Moreover, she stressesthe importance of Slovakdomestic politics in deciding the country'schances of foreignpolicy success. Two criticisms deserve to be levelled at the book. Firstly, the lack of a conclusion drawing together the book's many insights and venturing some projectionsfor Slovakia'sfuture.(The book stopsratherabruptlyat the end of the concise chapter on economics.) The second criticism should be levelled not at the author, but the publisher. Given the target marketfor the book is described in the front cover as 'studentsof East Central Europe, EU eastern enlargement and post-communist democratisation', one wonders how many sales Routledge imagines it will generate when a 40-page book is priced at no less than ?5o? The book's fate, therefore, is to be condemned to dusty university library shelves, which is a shame, because Henderson's excellent book deservesto have as wide an audience as possible. CREES T. HAUGHTON University ofBirmingham Bozoki, Andras (ed.). T7he RoundtableTalks of 1989. The...

The Roundtable Talks of 1989: The Genesis of Hungarian Democracy (Analysis and Documents) by András s> Bozóki (review)

772 SEER, 8 I, 4, 2003 beloved by journalists during the I990S of blaming all Slovakia's woes on Meciar and what is sometimes dubbed the country's backward culture. Instead she provides an account of internal Slovak politics which highlights such factors as the lack of qualified personnel in the ministries, the rapidly draftedconstitution, differentdegrees of development in Slovakia'sregions, a Bratislava-basedelite unable to build bridgeswith the mass Slovakpublic and the salience of the national issue over the usual left-right political cleavage. Moreover, she stressesthe importance of Slovakdomestic politics in deciding the country'schances of foreignpolicy success. Two criticisms deserve to be levelled at the book. Firstly, the lack of a conclusion drawing together the book's many insights and venturing some projectionsfor Slovakia'sfuture.(The book stopsratherabruptlyat the end of the concise chapter on economics.) The second criticism should be levelled not at the author, but the publisher. Given the target marketfor the book is described in the front cover as 'studentsof East Central Europe, EU eastern enlargement and post-communist democratisation', one wonders how many sales Routledge imagines it will generate when a 40-page book is priced at no less than ?5o? The book's fate, therefore, is to be condemned to dusty university library shelves, which is a shame, because Henderson's excellent book deservesto have as wide an audience as possible. CREES T. HAUGHTON University ofBirmingham Bozoki, Andras (ed.). T7he RoundtableTalks of 1989. The Genesisof Hungarian Democracy(Analysis and Documents).Central European University Press, Budapest, 2002. xxxiv + 409 pp. Notes. Tables. Appendices. Bibliography .Index. ?39.95. HISTORY matters in Central and Eastern Europe. Given the ideological permeation of history-writingin the Communist era, historians have been particularlybusy since the inaugurationof regime change. Re-examination of the (if with significant exceptions) sterile, mechanistic 'Marxist-Leninist' understandingof historyserveda variety of needs. Among othersit reopened scholarly dialogue, it provided the basis for new school textbooks, while the need to understand, assess, and 'come to terms with' the Communist period itselfbecame an importantelement of the processof 'decommunization'. At the same time history once again became an ideological plaything for politician-intellectuals,who invented and reinvented the past to mobilize the population on the basis of 'identity'or 'symbolic'politics. The most notorious example was provided 'pre-transition',in I986, by the infamous nationalist Memorandum of the SerbianAcademy of Science. This was not to remain an isolated instance, nor was the political use of history restrictedto nationalist intellectuals. Many of those who spearheaded the 'revolutions' of I989 also played a key role in the new politicalparties.They proved more than readyto rewritehistorytojustify and promote theirown politicalpersuasions. This is but one reason for the importanceof the unstintingeffortsof Andras Boz6ki and his team of scholars to document fully the Hungarian Round REVIEWS 773 Table of I989. Hungary and Poland constitute the two cases where round table negotiations between the establishment and the opposition were absolutely fundamental to the path and pattern of post-Communist transformation . Like the Polish Communists, the MSzMP, dominated from midI988 by its reform wing, sought democratization as a means to the perpetuation of Partypower. Unlike the Poles, with whom they held a series of personal consultations, Hungarian leaders were more realistic in their analysis and increasingly sensitive to the growing precariousness of their position. Indeed, the new 'pragmatic,reformist,more enlightened, skepticalcynical generation' (Bozoki and Karfacsony,p. 93) was essential to both the start and the process of negotiations. The party rapidly abandoned its early institutional preferences, including bicameralism. Yet it held on until quite late to the view that it could continue to govern through a coalition arrangementwith the historic parties or with the (subsequentelection victor) the Hungarian Democratic Forum (Klmmardiscusses changing MSzMP strategy,pp.4I-69). The Polish case is only partly documented, and one consequence was the early emergence of a variety of conspiracy theories about relations between Solidarity intellectuals and the regime. The Hungarian Round Table was similarlyan elite affair,with little informationmade availableto the public as to the course of the discussions.Boz6ki'swork ensuresthe wholesale lifting of this veil, for he has overseen the publication in Hungary of eight volumes of detailedprimarysourcematerial,includingminutesandtranscripts.This book in turnprovidesananalyticalsynthesisofvariousdimensionsoftheroundtable process by...

Austrian agriculture: experience with the CAP and the anticipated effects of the EU's Eastern enlargement

The transition to the CAP and admission to the internal market triggered a shock wave in Austria which caused fundamental changes in the country’s farming and food industries. Behavioural patterns stuck in traditional routines and petrified structures began to break up. The resulting thrust towards modernisation has been a major success of the EU integration.           <br />Eastern enlargement, about to be embarked on by the European Union, will have a greater impact on Austrian agriculture than the country’s accession to the EU ever had. Farmers will have to brace for a loss of market shares and an additional pressure to adjust. The rural regions bordering the accession candidates will be particularly hit and thus require special attention in terms of economic policy measures. Agriculture and rural regions in Eastern Europe will profit from the EU-membership.

The Eastern Enlargement of EU from the Viewpoint of Regional Economics

In the course of integrating Eastern Europe into the EU the accession countries will have a good opportunity to attract industries from Western Europe and elsewhere and to catch up in per capita income. However, the catching up of the accession countries will be accompanied by an increase in regional divergence within these countries. This is concluded from the previous experiences with integration in Europe, especially the Southern enlargement, and the economic performance of and within the cohesion countries. The performance of the accession countries so far, already highly integrated with Western Europe in terms of trade and direct investment before their legal membership, confirms these conclusions. economic geography

Cross-border Governance: Inventing Regions in a Trans-national Multi-level Polity

From an esoteric subject of international relations and voluntarism-based initiatives, cross-border governance has turned in the last decade into a key expression of regionalism and of dynamics of change of territorial relations in Europe. Overcoming and blurring borders lies at the core of discourses on European integration aimed at erasing tariff and non-tariff barriers from the geography of European trade. Meanwhile, exchange across borders is becoming the generative matrix and the potential carrier of new concepts of development, such as the construction of new “economic integration zones.” Promoting the emergence and institutionalisation of cross-border regions has thus become an important objective of European Union cohesion policy. Yet the more borders are crossed—for instance, through the process of eastern EU enlargement—the more they are reproduced along other dimensions: linguistic, cultural, symbolic, as well as along differentials in abilities and power. Accordingly, the meanings and facets of borders are changing, posing new challenges to spatial disciplines and policies. This article presents a review of issues concerning cross-border regionalism and planning debated in geography and regional studies, with an emphasis on the challenges entailed by the socially constructed and “invented” character of cross-border regions and by the institutionalisation of cross-border governance.

Visa and free movement of labour: The uneven imposition of the EU acquis on the accession states

This article analyses the extension of the European Union's visa policy and the principle of free movement of labour to the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in the light of EU eastern enlargement policy. On the one hand, under the conditions of EU accession the CEE countries are required to adopt in full the EU's visa policy - even prior to accession, although some EU member states are granted a derogation. On the other hand, the EU has adopted a restrictive policy on free movement of labour from the CEE countries by introducing transitional periods after their accession, while at the same time encouraging labour mobility of EU citizens. The article demonstrates that with regard to these two aspects of free movement of people, the EU treats the CEE candidate states as members as far as the obligations of EU membership are concerned and as third countries as to its benefits.

The polish‐Ukrainian border: On the receiving end of EU enlargement

The EU's eastern enlargement expected in 2004, will result in the shift of the Schengen border regime to the eastern borders of the new member states. This prospect raises the vexed question of the likely consequences of the changes to the border regime on trans‐border relations. However, the consequences will be difficult to ascertain for the new EU border as a whole as it is well recognised that ‘every state border; every border region, is unique’.1 Therefore, in order to gauge the impact of EU enlargement in general and the introduction of the Schengen rules in particular, a comprehensive analysis of the situation on eastern borders of the applicant states prior to accession is required.This article presents an overview of ethnic, economic, and political relations for the Polish‐Ukrainian borderlands against the backdrop of the history of the region.

Eastern Enlargement of the EU: How Much Is It Worth for Austria?

For present member countries, eastern EU enlargement entails gains from integration as well as fiscal costs. The authors use a calibrated model to quantify the dynamic effects of discriminatory trade liberalization and immigration from eastern applicants. It is found that enlargement is expansionary and yields a remarkable fiscal dividend. Surprisingly, integration compresses the wage spread between skilled and unskilled labor. Overall, the (dynamic) gains from integration clearly outweigh the fiscal cost. While ambiguous a priori, enlargement is found to hold a remarkable net welfare gain for Austria.

Cross‐border cooperation: A major element in regional policy in East Central Europe

Borders in East Central Europe have become much more permeable over the past ten years as formalities have been simplified and many new crossing points have opened. At the same time cooperation in border regions has increased, thanks mainly to resourcing through EU ‘Inrerreg’ programmes, to include a range of business, cultural and conservation interests. In many cases these arrangements have been formalised through Euroregions which have become an indicator of good international relations. The paper reviews these trends with reference to examples and pays particular attention to environmental projects and the joint planning initiatives being undertaken in a number of the Euroregions. At a time when regional policy has been generally weak, cross‐border cooperation has contributed significantly to cohesion and it is also a good indicator of stability in the region. However, the impact has been greater in the north than in the Balkans and the first round of EU eastern enlargement will have implications for cooperation across the new external borders.

Cross-border cooperation: A major element in regional policy in the new East Central Europe

Borders in East Central Europe have become much more permeable over the past ten years as formalities have been simplified and many new crossing points have opened. At the same time, cooperation in border regions has increased, thanks mainly to the EU 'Interreg' programmes, to include a range of business cultural and conservation interests. In many cases these arrangements have been formalized through Euroregions which have become an indicator of good international relations. The paper reviews these trends with reference to examples and pays particular attention to environmental projects and the joint planning initiatives being undertaken in a number of Euroregions. At a time when regional policy has been generally weak, cross-border cooperation has contributed significantly to cohesion and it is also a good indicator of stability in the region. However, the impact has been greater in the north than in the Balkans and the first round of EU eastern enlargement will have implications for cooperation across the new external borders.