Suchergebnisse

The determination of the hazards resulting from the accidental or deli berate contamination of terrestrial and aquatic environments is in most countries still lirnited to the detection and quantification of the suspected pollutants by chemical analyses. Such an approach is unfortunately hampered by the following constraints : the costs as weil as the technical difficulties of analyzing every individual chemical which may be present in the sampies, and the difficulty of assessing the hazards and risks of environmental contaminations from a set of chemical data. During the last decades the scientific and regulatory community has gradually realized that biological methodologies have to be taken into consideration for an ecologically meaningful assessment of the toxicological hazards of contaminants. Effect evaluations obtained with biological techniques indeed integrate the impact of all the contaminants to which living biota are exposed. Bioassays with selected test species representative for the biological commumtles of the environments under consideration, are now applied more or less regularly to determine toxic and genotoxic effects. Taking into account the species specific and chemical specific character of toxicity to biota, the necessity of a «battery of tests» approach with species of different trophic levels is currently also generally accepted and implemented. It is dear that a balanced partnership between chemical, biological, toxicological and microbiological analyses is always the best strategy for generating the broadest information base on environmental hazards.

This paper provides an overview of the employment situation of young and old workers in the EU Member States, setting out the most recent development during the crisis and dealing with policies implemented to promote the employment of both groups. The evidence collected shows that there is no competition between young and older workers on the labour market. Structural or general policies to enhance the functioning of EU labour markets are crucial to improving the situation of both groups. However, the responsibility for employment policies still predominantly lies within Member States of the European Union, although initiatives taken at the EU level can provide added value, particularly through stimulating the exchange of experiences and facilitating regional and cross-border mobility throughout the EU.

This paper provides an overview of the employment situation of young and old workers in the EU Member States, setting out the most recent development during the crisis and dealing with policies implemented to promote the employment of both groups. The evidence collected shows that there is no competition between young and older workers on the labour market. Structural or general policies to enhance the functioning of EU labour markets are crucial to improving the situation of both groups. However, the responsibility for employment policies still predominantly lies within Member States of the European Union, although initiatives taken at the EU level can provide added value, particularly through stimulating the exchange of experiences and facilitating regional and cross-border mobility throughout the EU.

This paper provides an overview of the employment situation of young and old workers in the EU Member States, setting out the most recent development during the crisis and dealing with policies implemented to promote the employment of both groups. The evidence collected shows that there is no competition between young and older workers on the labour market. Structural or general policies to enhance the functioning of EU labour markets are crucial to improving the situation of both groups. However, the responsibility for employment policies still predominantly lies within Member States of the European Union, although initiatives taken at the EU level can provide added value, particularly through stimulating the exchange of experiences and facilitating regional and cross-border mobility throughout the EU.

This paper provides an overview of the employment situation of young and old workers in the EU Member States, setting out the most recent development during the crisis and dealing with policies implemented to promote the employment of both groups. The evidence collected shows that there is no competition between young and older workers on the labour market. Structural or general policies to enhance the functioning of EU labour markets are crucial to improving the situation of both groups. However, the responsibility for employment policies still predominantly lies within Member States of the European Union, although initiatives taken at the EU level can provide added value, particularly through stimulating the exchange of experiences and facilitating regional and cross-border mobility throughout the EU.

This study provides an overview of the employment situation of young and old workers in the EU Member States, setting out the most recent developments during the crisis and dealing with policies implemented to promote the employment of both groups. The evidence collected shows that there is no competition between young and older workers on the labour market. Structural or general policies to enhance the functioning of EU labour markets are crucial to improving the situation of both groups. However, the responsibility for employment policies still predominantly lies within Member States of the European Union, although initiatives taken at the EU level can provide added value, particularly through stimulating the exchange of experiences and facilitating regional and cross-border mobility throughout the EU.

This study provides an overview of the importance and activities of employment agencies as well as their legal framework (WTO, ILO, EU) in the EU Member States and closely examines their role in selected countries, while focusing on temporary work agencies, a significantly growing market within the EU. Due to limited data, there is no clear-cut result on the agencies' longer-term impact. However, the four identified market types (market driven, social dialogue based, legislator driven and emerging markets) are analysed through country cases regarding national regulations, the treatment of workers and everyday functioning of the agencies. It becomes evident that there is a wide diversity of the branch, which needs to be taken into account when reviewing EU Directive 2008/104/EC.

Mental health is a fundamental component of good health. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as 'a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community'. Consequently, mental health problems range from the worries we all experience as part of everyday life to serious long-term conditions. The WHO pyramid Framework for mental health1 pleads for a comprehensive care offer and continuity of care. From a policy viewpoint every government needs to evaluate whether its mental health care system is effective and efficient and provides easy access for every civilian. Also for Belgium this exercise is important, especially in the light of recent social and political phenomena. In past decades the organisation of mental health care in Belgium underwent several reform waves with the main aim to further orient mental health care towards a reduction of residential hospital care in favour of recovery and reintegration treatment in the community. In order to attaint this objective, policies to promote five core foundations (i.e. deinstitutionalisation, inclusion, decategorisation, intensification, and consolidation)2 were developed. In 2016, the inter-cabinet working group (IKW – GTI) 'task force on Mental Health care' asked the KCE to look at the provision of mental health care services and the needs of the population. The current study focused on an in-depth analysis of the organisation of mental health services in Belgium with a need to clearly visualize the present care offer and to evaluate the organisation and continuity of care for the future decade. The objective of this study was to describe the Belgian mental health care offer in order to take into account possible gaps and overlaps between existing services and to assess the Belgian landscape against internationally defined frameworks. The results of this report should assist policy-makers in setting priorities and making strategic decisions regarding the organisation of mental health care. The study gives an overview of the Belgian mental health care landscape for adults including: (1) the care offer (the different organisations and service providers), (2) the identification of gaps and overlaps between service providers and how they may affect the five core foundations of the mental health care reform, 3) benchmark the Belgian situation in relation to the internationally developed frameworks for the provision of mental health care services for adults, and 4) the acceptability of future organisational measures/changes