In The External Dimension of EU Social Security Coordination: Towards a Common EU Approach, Pauline Melin provides a detailed legal analysis of the framework on social security coordination with third countries and offers alternative policy solutions to the current fragmented approach.

The Research Handbook on European Social Security Law critically examines the various European dimensions of social security. The collection discusses a wide range of questions and dilemmas ensuing from the present state of European social security law, whilst at the same time identifying future lines of inquiry that are likely to dominate the discourse in the coming years. This Handbook encompasses numerous dimensions of European social security law, including: social security as a human right; standard setting in social security; the protection of mobile persons and migrants; as well as the global context of European social security law. It pays attention to both EU law and to various instruments of the Council of Europe. Throughout the book's chapters prominent experts analyse contemporary debates, discuss new challenges and point out further lines of research. Via this exploration, the Handbook provides a source of inspiration for the development of this special field of law. Covering a breadth of topic and research, scholars and practitioners alike will find this Research Handbook to be an invaluable source of information.

In the last few decades, attention for the social protection of self-employed people in Europe has grown. The countries that are probably most concerned with the social protection for self-employed persons are the Central and Eastern European states. At the end of the twentieth century, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, they were confronted with rising entrepreneurship. Self-employed entrepreneurship was and still is one of the key elements in the transformation of their guided economy to a free market economy. The essential question for many policymakers of Central and Eastern European states is, consequently, to what extent social protection should have a place in this free economy. This publication gives an overview of the existing social security systems for self-employed people in those states in Central and Eastern Europe with which the EU has started negotiations for a possible entry. More specifically, it concerns Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. For each state it is checked for which risks the self-employed person is socially insured and how the social security systems are structured. Moreover, the author investigates the specific problems, which the states have to deal with when developing a social security protection for the self-employed. After the description of the national systems, the final chapter will offer a brief comparative analysis. The aim of this analysis is to present the key points in the description of the systems for self-employed persons in Central and Eastern Europe. This chapter will equally be used to make the link with the EU countries. Contributions to this book are made by: A. Bubnov- S ¡ koberne, I.C. Dragan, J. Hajdú, J. Hartl, L. Leppik, T. Medaiskis, M. Pliszkiewicz, I. Radicová, D. Sacheva-Atanasova, G. Strban and V. Zagorskis.

"This book sheds an innovating light on a topic of major scientific as well as practical interest that has seldom been dealt with in a comprehensive way: the relations between EU and non-EU countries and nationals, as far as social security is concerned. These are dealt with in a number of contributions by eminent international experts." "First, the internal co-ordination of the European Union in relation with third country nationals is analysed. The ways the social security systems of the EU Member States are being co-ordinated with those of the Mediterranean emigration countries are examined in a second contribution. The EU-EFTA social security arrangements are explored in a third one. An overview of the complex landscape of the existing bilateral and multilateral social security instruments binding EU states and non-EU states is given in a next one. A fifth contribution deals with the European and international law applicable to the social security of illegal foreign workers." "The contributions were presented at a conference held on 2 April 2009 in Leuven, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Master of European Social Security." --Book Jacket.

This book investigates the paradox of rich countries of Western Europe, who have high levels of poverty whilst proclaiming its eradication as one of the primary social and economic goals. It looks at how policies often do not achieve their goals, why countries need mechanisms to reduce wage inequality and why they choose to provide universal benefits instead of systems of selective benefits targeted at the poor. Along with cross-countries comparisons, the volume also presents analysis of the minimum income in France, Portugal, Italy, Finland, Ireland, Belgium, and Greece.

An Introduction to European Intergovernmental Organizations provides an up-to-date and accessible reference to European intergovernmental organizations other than the European Union. The EU is so dominant that people often overlook the multitude of older and newer, smaller and larger intergovernmental organizations rooted in the history of contemporary Europe which continue to help shape its future. The specialized character of these organizations adds value to cooperation in Europe as a whole, creates permanent channels of communication regardless of EU membership and allows the possibility for non-European involvement through organizations such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and NATO. It also allows sub regional groups of states, such as the Nordic countries or the Benelux countries to exist and express their own identity via their own organizations. This book looks at the history of Non-EU organizations, their decision-making characteristics, membership policies, legal powers actions and interactions with each other and the European Union. A uniform scheme of analysis is used to make European intergovernmental organizations comparable and by studying them we gain a deeper understanding and insight into European affairs.