"The outermost regions (ORs) have considerable assets to contribute to the future of Europe: the talents of their men and women, their agricultural, fisheries and industrial products, their high-quality tourism and their geographical role as outposts of Europe in their regional neighbourhoods. The citizens of the ORs feel themselves to be 100% European."
Henri Malosse, EESC rapporteur on the EU's outermost regions
European Economic and Social Committee
While it is true that these policies have allowed the country to get a handle on its finances, they have also exacerbated and multiplied social problems and triggered the second wave of emigration since Lithuania joined the EU.
The future development of the Latvian economy, at least in the short term, will remain heavily
dependent on export opportunities, so its growth potential will be closely linked to growth prospects
in its major EU trading partners.
Key words: labour market, employment, unemployment, active and passive labour market policy measures, social partners, social welfare reform, adaptation to the economic crisis.
Italy was severely hit by the global economic crisis in the second quarter of 2008. After showing tentative signs of recovery during 2010 and in early 2011, with the deepening sovereign debt crisis in some European countries and a growing lack of confidence towards Italy, a country with a high level of debt, the economy suffered another setback and has slipped into a new recession.
Despite the explicit intentions of the public authorities, it appears that the structural measures to reform the labour market have had no real impact in terms of changing the situation of the labour market, in which unemployment is still extremely widespread. The new government appears to want to continue with the same anti-crisis policies, despite the fact that the Spanish economy has shown no signs of recovery for at least two years, as pointed out by economic commentators and financial intermediaries.
For the European institutions, the "Great Recession" officially began in March 2008, when the
word "crisis" first appeared in the Conclusions of the European Council (European Council, March
2008). In the four years since then, the European response to that crisis has not always been the
same; an analysis of European Union documents reveals at least three distinct stages.
The present study aims to provide a succinct but comprehensive account that will allow a better
understanding of the economic and social impact of the measures implemented in Greece. To this
end, the study takes stock of the hitherto implementation of the programme to elucidate its multiple
impact on fundamental social and employment issues.
The challenge now facing Europe is to develop an industrial policy combining technological and organisational innovation, capable of supporting a new model of growth based upon production using little energy and few resources and satisfying new societal needs.
