Absorption of the structural funds in Romania

The European structural policy was directed towards consolidating the specific objectives of narrowing the regional disparities, an ample process of negotiation for the allocation of the structural funds to the new member states, Romania included. In Romania there is a need to disseminate the positive practices of EU member states in implementing the structural policies, and an urge to evaluate the progress in absorbing the structural funds and to identify the adequate measures to remedy the deficiencies noticed in the operational programs. This study gives an overall image of the allocation of structural funds for the new EU member states, Romania included, describes the absorption of the structural funds in Romania in 2009 and reviews the blockages and the solutions proposed for the absorption of these funds. The standard pattern of analysis which we used is a radiography of the actual situation, but further investigations are needed in order to identify the optimal solutions to accomplishing better results in the absorption of structural funds in Romania.European Union, absorption capacity, structural funds, administrative capacity, Romania

Capacity of Phare and structural funds absorption: pre-accession versus post-accession

The capacity of structural funds absorption is a priority for the member states of the European Union which accessed the EU in 2004 and 2007, but slowing rates of the absorption capacity of these funds were noticed in comparison to the absorption rates of pre-accession funds. Within the context of “pre-accession versus post-accession” analysis, we present the gradual flexibilization of the process of EU funds absorption, the transfer of responsibilities for funds management towards the member states, as well as the differences between the two financing instruments used by the European Union function of different coordinates. The accession of the new member states from Central and Eastern Europe testimonies for the efficient ways of conditioning the aid for modernization offered to these countries, creating a reference framework whose coordination by proactive measures should continue during the post-accession period too. The success of the positive conditionality during the pre-accession period should be preserved by focusing on endogenous aspects specific to the assumption of responsibility for structural funds absorption by every new member state.Absorption capacity, positive conditionality, structural funds, European funds, new member states

Politici de incluziune a romilor în statele membre ale Uniunii Europene

The aim of the study is to offer to decision-makers the necessary data regarding European policies of social inclusion for the Roma, with focus on the practices which have shown a positive impact in the fields of education, employment, housing and health, and to accompany the analysis with policy recommendations for a more efficient and effective action in promoting Roma inclusion. The second chapter, Social Inclusion Policies at the European Level: Mainstreaming versus Targeting offers a brief historical overview of the European policy framework within which social inclusion was conceptualised and its corresponding policies were articulated, along with preoccupations with the situation of the Roma, defined as a European minority subject to centuries-long discrimination. It reminds the reader the definition of „social inclusion” mentioned in European documents and connects the development of the concept and its corresponding social policies to the discourse on the risks of poverty and social exclusion, which can be found already in the 1984 documents of the Council of European Communities. The first part of the chapter presents the emergence and evolution of the Lisbon agenda (2000) and the Open Method of Coordination in the Domain of Social Policies (OMC) that became operational soon after, along with the main indicators aimed to measure the extent and depth of poverty and social exclusion in EU member states, i.e. the Laeken indicators and the currently employed AROPE indicator. It discusses the role of the European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion, launched in 2010 as part of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable development that fosters social inclusion. The Platform aims to stand for a political commitment of EU member states to promote social innovation and more efficient use of European funds for the objectives of social inclusion. Recently, the European Commission also recommended adding a series of social indicators (i.e. the rate of long term unemployment and the neither-in-work-nor-in-education rate among the youth) in the monitorization of the European common market. [...

Good Practices in Social Economy in Greece and in Other States of the European Union

The purpose of the book is to place, as well as possible, the social economy within the integrative European policies for social inclusion and to supply examples of good practices from Greece and from other member states of the European Union. The book consists of four sections. The first section presents the main coordinates of the European policies for social inclusion, correlated with the specific initiatives of the social economy. The second section describes the main features of the good practices in the social field, clarifies the importance and role of social economy structures evaluation and monitoring using methods of scientific research and shows the results reported by other studies on the good practices in social economy. Chapter three discusses the indicators used to show the good practices across the European Union. Based on the common grid of indicators used as reference framework, eight of the best practices identified in Greece and in other European countries are described. The chapter highlights the importance of the most usual resource used by the described best practices – the social capital – and brings arguments to the circular relation with the social economy, while giving some directions to develop the formula which activates the potential of this form of social economy. Chapter four supplies a set of recommendations on how to capitalise on the gathered experience, by setting broad directions for the subsequent development of the social economy. The EU regulations on social economy are presented, as well as the links between the social economy and EU policies. The book end with an appendix drafting the picture of the European structures involved in the field of social economy, both at the European and at the national level, whose purpose is to provide more knowledge to the interested reader

Social economy in Europe

The interest for social economy makes us reflect on the form of social evolution. The development of society can no longer be conceived in a simplistic manner, as a strictly linear process in which all that has been done in the past has been exceeded, either by final incorporation in new solutions, or removed as history errors. Development runs, rather, on a zigzag course. Some experiments are unfairly and simplistically rejected, only to be resumed later within a new context. This is just the case of the subject theme of this book. Is social economy a completely new concept? Yes and no. Its substance is a restart of the tradition of cooperativism. We have to learn from history. After the Revolution, by a, hard to understand, extremism, the cooperativist tradition, both under the forms disturbed by the Romanian socialism, and under the traditional forms, both Romanian and foreign, was violently rejected; this may only be catalogued as detrimental misunderstanding. And, as any error, we still have to bear its effects. Actually, the whole Europe, except the post-revolutionary extremism in Romania, rather tolerated cooperativism as an oddity. We are beginning to use the plurality of the non-standard economic patterns as important resources, which we have to resume and amplify within the new context. Maybe just to mark this thing, there was a need to look for a new term. IQLR, in the spirit of its mission, allocated part of its resources to promote the plurality of social economy models

Good Practices in Social Economy in Greece and in Other States of the European Union

The purpose of the book is to place, as well as possible, the social economy within the integrative European policies for social inclusion and to supply examples of good practices from Greece and from other member states of the European Union. The book consists of four sections. The first section presents the main coordinates of the European policies for social inclusion, correlated with the specific initiatives of the social economy. The second section describes the main features of the good practices in the social field, clarifies the importance and role of social economy structures evaluation and monitoring using methods of scientific research and shows the results reported by other studies on the good practices in social economy. Chapter three discusses the indicators used to show the good practices across the European Union. Based on the common grid of indicators used as reference framework, eight of the best practices identified in Greece and in other European countries are described. The chapter highlights the importance of the most usual resource used by the described best practices – the social capital – and brings arguments to the circular relation with the social economy, while giving some directions to develop the formula which activates the potential of this form of social economy. Chapter four supplies a set of recommendations on how to capitalise on the gathered experience, by setting broad directions for the subsequent development of the social economy. The EU regulations on social economy are presented, as well as the links between the social economy and EU policies. The book end with an appendix drafting the picture of the European structures involved in the field of social economy, both at the European and at the national level, whose purpose is to provide more knowledge to the interested reader