Platform workers: opportunities for digital services

Views: 61Growing number of digital and ICT services require legal clarification of people involved. The new Commission’s draft of a directive is aimed at recognising these “digital platform” workers offering such services as “regular employees”. The main idea of a new draft is to recognise a salaried status for such “platform” workers. 

Making business fit for the future: deliberations on corporate perspectives

Views: 86Small and medium enterprises, SMEs are the backbone of the member states’ economies: they represent over 95 percent of all entrepreneurship’s activities (about two-thirds of the total employment in the private sector) and create about 85 per cent of new jobs. However, recently SMEs have been under severe stress; besides, most of them are […]

European social market economy: new aspects for business and entrepreneurship

Views: 70European approach to social market economy’s perspectives encompasses a variety of businesses and organisations: e.g. SMEs and cooperatives, mutual benefit societies and non-profit associations and foundations. A common denominator in all of them is that their activity is constantly addressing people and society’s interests to produce positive impact on local communities and pursuing social […]

Recovery perspectives and “smart specialization” in the Baltic States

Views: 63In modern national development paradigm there are two main components: recovery and resilience; however, “smart specialisation” also helps to catch-up with the competitive European and global markets. Therefore these smart strategies serve as a vital element in national recovery and resilient plans towards socio-economic modernisation. Examples from the three Baltic States reveal similar and […]

Happiness in Europe and the world: lessons to learn

Views: 60Global attention to “happiness” has already a decade’s history: analytics assemble data on peoples’ lives in most of the countries around the world. Some trends are somehow quite remarkable recently: i.e. importance of income and GDP has been decreasing in the pools, while happiness was more often associated with the general aspects of wellbeing […]

Transforming education and training: main national priority

Views: 46Education and training have become the main drivers for both the workforce and national growth; only these to priority spheres in national strategy can actually help to improve innovation and competitiveness, employability and productivity. In a broader sense, education is a key pre-condition for an adequate national response to contemporary challenges and achieving sustainable […]

Conference on the “Future of Europe”: final stages

Views: 36Intensive discussions on “European future” soon will be over: by this May, the conference is expected to publish its outcomes. However, the meeting of the Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe (to take place at the end of March in Brussels) is to tackle some controversial expectations of the conferences’ […]

Geopolitical issues in energy market: strategic European “re-powering”

Views: 37Accelerating clean energy transition, increasing energy independence from unreliable suppliers and reducing volatile fossil fuels’ import, coped with climate obligations, etc. are the burning issues in the present EU integration process. Besides, new geopolitical and energy market realities require prompt and radical measures at both the EU and the member states’ levels. 

National recovery plans: sustainability perspectives through the EU support

Views: 2410The EU institutions have accelerated since the end of 2020 support for the states’ recovery-resilience plans with the ever biggest package of stimulus. In line with the member states recovery strategies and plans, agreed by the Commission during 2021, the states are implementing presently these plans under strict Commission’s surveillance. Some ideas behind the […]