SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) are important contributors to European competitiveness, with most new jobs in Europe being created by micro-enterprises with up to six employees. However, they also face particular difficulties including effective management of safety and health and Member States have set up measures to assist entrepreneurship. The Agency has carried out several important projects to improve occupational safety and health in SMEs, including special funding schemes of good safety and health practice in SMEs initiated by the European Parliament and the European Commission. As part of these efforts the Agency has also made a study of practical examples of successful occupational safety and health assistance services to SMEs.

Substantial progress has been made in the last 15 years in the areas of European economic, social and monetary integration, aided by social dialogue on employment and industrial relations at the international level. To be truly effective, the social dialogue has to be underpinned by an awareness of the different national industrial relations systems. This two-volume series sets out to provide information on the varied systems found across the EU, describing and analysing the key elements and concepts of industrial relations in the different Member States, from a comparative perspective. The contributions focus on three principal aspects of comparative industrial relations: an analysis of the strikingly similar pressures for industrial relations in each country; the degree to which the institutional arrangements have retained their national identities despite such pressures; and the evolution of industrial relations within this context. Countries covered in this volume are: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain.

Desde una visión interdisciplinar, esta obra se centra en el futuro del mundo rural, profundizando en la áreas temáticas de la política de desarrollo rural, las tendencias de la economía rural, las infraestructuras y la organización territorial, el patrimonio natural, el arquitectónico y cultural, y la nueva sociedad rural, exponiendo experiencias y explorando nuevas ideas que contribuyan a hacer de las áreas rurales espacios dinámicos e innovadores.

Based on analysis of the evidence for climate change and the vulnerability of poor people, develops a framework for action and examines the link between consumer and political choices in the North, and impacts in the South on the most vulnerable people on the planet.