In response to the evolution of the world economy and its impact on Europe, the European Commission proposed a set of programmes to boost jobs, growth and investment across the European Union. The programmes are part of the multiannual financial framework 2014-2020. This publication guides you through these programmes and the funding opportunities they offer are briefly described here in this booklet. Detailed information is available on the European Commission's website. EU funding opportunities prove the added value of the EU budget in a number of fields, from research, employment, regional development and cooperation to education, culture, environment, humanitarian aid and energy, among many others. Significant support is available to small and medium-sized businesses, non-governmental and civil society non-profit organisations, young people, researchers, farmers and public bodies, to name a few.

This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the growing financial power of the European Union in a lively and accessible form. It examines how the budget is used, how it is managed and assesses the future prospects of the budget.

Often described as complex, opaque and unfair, the EU budget financing system is an “unfinished journey.” One of the most critical issues is that EU revenue, drawn from the cashbox of national taxation, remains impalpable to the general public. The nature of the EU as a union of states and their nationals makes the visibility of EU revenue unavoidable. The political sustainability of a move that would put the legitimacy of EU revenue at the forefront of public discussion will depend on the European Commission’s ability to show that EU funds can achieve results that are truly beyond member states’ reach. The value-added tax (VAT) is a natural choice for funding the EU budget, through a dedicated EU VAT rate as part of the national VAT and designed as such in fiscal receipts, whose use as a means for raising EU citizens’ awareness could be encouraged already in the current arrangements.

The EU has experienced serious economic and political crises such as the sovereign debt crisis and Brexit in the past few years. However, despite these issues, the EU has implemented considerable institutional, fiscal, and collective improvements during the unification process to continue as a significant actor in the global economy. The Handbook of Research on Social and Economic Development in the European Union provides a multidisciplinary evaluation of the institutional, economic, and social development of the European Union and makes inferences for the future dynamics and collaborations of the EU, the global economy, and other countries. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as energy security, gender discrimination, and global economics, this book is ideally designed for government officials, policymakers, world leaders, politicians, diplomats, international relations officers, economists, business professionals, historians, market analysts, academicians, researchers, and students concerned about the multifaceted integration processes surrounding the EU.

The Routledge Handbook of European Public Policy provides an in-depth and systematic understanding of EU policies. It covers theoretical approaches on the policy process and the various stages of public policy-formulation and decision making; and discusses key questions of contemporary European governance. The handbook introduces major concepts, trends, and methodologies in a variety of comparative settings thereby providing the first systematic effort to include theoretical and substantive analyses of European public policies in a single volume. The handbook is divided into four sections: Concepts and approaches in EU policymaking; Substantive policies of the EU, including economic and social, fiscal and monetary, areas of freedom, security and justice, and external policies; Elements of the policy cycle; Themes ranging from crisis and resistance to controversies in education. This handbook will be an essential reference for students and scholars of the European Union, public policy, social policy and more broadly for European and comparative politics.

EU Cohesion policy accounts for a major share of the EU budget and is central to economic and social development in many European countries. This book provides a comprehensive and theoretically-informed analysis of how Cohesion policy has evolved over time, in particular the budgetary and policy dynamics of the 2007–13 reform. In the context of the budgetary politics of the EU, the book examines the process by which the reform of Cohesion policy has been shaped; it identifies the key factors that explain the allocation of funding, assesses the roles of the Member States, European Commission and European Parliament, and tests whether the process and outcome are consistent with the expectations of EU decision-making and integration theories. Based on extensive, EU-wide research over a ten-year period, the book provides new insights into both the process and outcomes of EU policy reform. Presenting original research in an accessible format, this book will be of interest to scholars as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students in the fields of European integration and policy studies.

This book addresses the status quo of Corporate Social Responsibility practices and their development since 2008. How have things changed in the practice of CSR? What new opportunities and challenges have arisen? The book reports on an international set of cases and case studies on how CSR is practiced at business and organizations in various countries. It analyzes country-specific and industry-specific issues, as well as general global issues in connection with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The contributions gathered here provide comprehensive information on CSR for both practitioners and researchers around the globe.