bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Relationship between Regulation (EEC) 1612/68 and Regulation (EEC) 1408/71 Analysed through ECJ Case Law on Frontier Workers
Authors: Verschueren Herwig 
Published: March 2017

This article analyses the relationship between two EC Regulations protecting the social rights of migrant workers moving within the Union: Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68, concerning freedom of movement for workers, and Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71, concerning the co-ordination of the social security systems of the Member States. The article takes a closer look at the added value of Regulation 1612/68 over Regulation 1408/71. It begins by outlining the framework and general content of Regulation 1612/68 and explains its legal relationship with Regulation 1408/71. Building on ECJ case law, accepting that Regulation 1612/68 also applies to frontier workers, it then analyses the added value of Regulation 1612/68 over Regulation 1408/71. It argues that there is, in particular, added value for benefits not falling within the scope of Regulation 1408/71, such as some family benefits, pre-retirement benefits or career-interruption benefits. However for benefits covered by Regulation 1408/71, the latter takes precedence over Regulation 1612/68, which means that in some cases residence requirements can be maintained. At the end of the article, there is an assessment of the unresolved problems involved in applying Regulation 1612/68. It follows from the analysis that uncertainties and even loopholes still exist as regards the legal position of migrant workers under this regulation. It reveals that in certain cases migrant workers, in particular frontier workers, can still risk falling between two stools, or conversely, can end up having the best of both worlds.
More Activation — More Chances for the Unemployed? Changes in Austria's Active Labour Market Policy after Accessing the European Union
Authors: Wroblewski Angela 
Published: March 2017

One of the main political objectives throughout the European Union (EU) is to raise employment rates. Recent demographic developments, the resulting financial problems of the welfare state, increasing competition with other economic areas, as well as the attempt to create equal opportunities for men and women, certainly call for a higher level of participation in the labour market. But this does not automatically lead to more gender equality or social cohesion. On the contrary, in most EU member countries, an increase of employment frequently goes hand in hand with an increase in atypical employment, with different kinds of jobs that in many cases do not meet the requirements of standard employment.1 An important instrument in this context is active labour market policy, which, however, contributes to an increasing polarisation of labour markets. This article, therefore, focuses on the development and effects of active labour market policy in Austria as well as the changes that occurred after Austria joined the EU.2 Taking the situation in Austria as an example, it will become obvious that not all groups have benefited to the same extent from the expansion of active labour market policy, which was initiated in the 1990s by the EU. Instead, we can observe various creaming effects, meaning that existing inequalities are maintained or even enforced in spite of higher level of activation.
The Thorny Path to Implementation: Bismarckian Social Insurance in Hungary in the Late 19th Century
Authors: Szikra Dorottya 
Published: March 2017

This article analyses the first Hungarian social insurance law, enacted in 1891, which made health insurance compulsory for all industrial employees (including commercial clerks) in Hungary. Its timing and content suggest that it was modelled on German and Austrian legislation. But, in contrast to Germany and Austria (where the implementation of the legislation was quite successful), implementation of the legislation in Hungary encountered several difficulties. This is the reason why the proportion of de facto insured individuals in Hungary was much less than in Austria and Germany. The article attempts, first, to fit Hungarian social insurance legislation into the wider context of European welfare development. It gives a precise definition of de jure insured persons with particular reference to the situation of day labourers. It then analyses some organisational issues, e.g. the funding of the ‘district insurance offices’, and the crucial problem of establishing an effective procedure for collecting contributions. The failure of the latter and the shortage of doctors led to failures in implementation. By the turn of the century, the majority of the de jure insured had not become de facto insured and many of those who were insured did not get sufficient health provision. The first problem was a long lasting one: if one compares the proportion of insured persons in Austria and Hungary over time, the difference actually widens in the period before World War II.
Legal Aspects of Cross-Border Rehabilitation to Work
Authors: Erhag Thomas 
Published: March 2017

This paper describes the legal situation of European migrant workers who are in need of rehabilitation. For the sick or disabled migrant worker, living in one country and having his/her workplace in another, rehabilitation often raises complicated issues which have to be solved by an equally complex framework of legal rules. In this article, Sweden-Norway is used as a cross-border example to illustrate the problems faced by an insured person and by the social security administration during rehabilitation. The legal problems are basically attributable to differences between social security systems within the EU. Rehabilitation cases are complicated by the fact that the support an individual needs is often not a single benefit. Instead rehabilitation involves a variety of different benefits regulated by different legal instruments. EC Reg. 1408/71 aims to co-ordinate and safeguard the social security rights of migrant workers. However, legal rehabilitation tools, such as sickness and health care benefits, are co-ordinated according to different criteria and special rules covering rehabilitation are not found in the regulation. This leads to a situation where a migrant worker can have the right to cash benefits from one country and health care benefits from another. The result is sometimes confusing, both for the individual and for the administration. The article explores and analyses this confusing situation, paying special attention to the question of legal certainty for the migrant worker.
Life Courses, Diversity and the Reform of the Unemployment Insurance Act
Authors: Koopmans Ivy , Plantenga Janneke , Vlasblom Jan Dirk 
Published: March 2017

The understanding of diversity in life courses is an important stimulus for redesigning and modernising social security systems. A number of measures, such as leave arrangements, have been introduced in the past. These measures allow employees to make combinations and transitions and enable them to deal with the risks associated with these transitions, for example, a reduction in income or a loss of social security entitlements. However, there has been little empirical analysis of the effectiveness of these arrangements from a life course perspective. This paper examines one specific arrangement, namely the facility of care credits (in Dutch: ‘verzorgingsforfait’) in unemployment insurance. The aim of this provision is to amend the entitlement conditions for unemployment insurance benefit for people who have not worked for some time due to caring for young children. With these credits the period interrupted for care of children is equated with a period of actual work. The care credits were introduced in 1987, but partially abolished in 2004. The main argument for abolition was a change in women's labour market participation behaviour; women no longer interrupt their careers following childbirth, they adjust their working hours. For this reason, it is argued that the need for care credits no longer exists. This conclusion, however, has not been corroborated by empirical evidence. To fill this gap, we present an empirical analysis of the effectiveness of care credits. We use panel data of the Institute of Labour Studies (OSA), for the period 1990–2002. The results show that the importance of this arrangement has in fact not declined for women. Furthermore, from the data we can conclude that these care credits are particularly important for women with low educational qualifications and women with two or more children.
Life Cycle Arrangements and the Concept of Employment
Authors: Knegt Robert 
Published: March 2017

Discussions about life cycle arrangements tend to focus on issues of policy and of social security, more than on questions of regulation and employment law. The way in which life cycle policies can be laid down, formalized into legal rules and integrated into labour law should not, however, be considered as merely a ‘technical’ matter to be solved afterwards. On the contrary, the question may be raised as to what extent current legal concepts are (in)adequate to such arrangements. Are we deemed to mould arrangements in the forms of ‘subjective rights’ or ‘private financial savings’? Is the ‘property of one's labour capacity’ still an adequate conceptual basis for transactions between employers and employees? After a brief account of what may be seen as ‘life cycle’ arrangements in the past, I turn to an analysis of the employment contract as an exclusionary device. Employment contracts, which currently regulate the time frame and the types of work carried out, may have to be extended to provide for adequate arrangements. In light of this, I review proposals made by Supiot (‘social drawing rights’) and Schmid (‘opportunity structures’ compensating for ‘social risks’) and argue that a revision of the property concept in relation to labour may be required.
Preventing Poverty in the European Union
Authors: Sinfield Adrian 
Published: March 2017

Preventive policies have to be an integral part of any strategy to bring about a significant and lasting reduction in poverty. Of course, lifting people out of poverty is also essential, but this can only be a part of the plan. Preventing poverty in the first place and then preventing its recurrence must form a clear and specific part of the strategy. This article begins by examining prevention within the anti-poverty strategies promoted by the European Commission through the objectives set out in its Reports on Social Inclusion. It also considers preventive measures presented in countries' National Action Plans on Social Inclusion and the Commission's responses to these. The second part of the article discusses why prevention has been given less priority than the Commission's specific objectives would seem to require. The paper concludes with an exploration of the issue of poverty prevention at a broader, structural level and suggests key elements for such a strategy. Preventing poverty requires more attention to the underlying causes of poverty and the wider, structural factors that help to perpetuate it if a successful attack on the problem is to be sustained over time. This includes better linking of social and economic policy and closer attention to the ways in which widening and persistent inequalities handicap anti-poverty policies and undermine government effort – especially when they are combined with declining mobility.
Personal Return to Work Budgets for Persons with Disabilities: Demand-Based Delivery of Re-Integration Services in the Netherlands
Authors: Bosselaar Hans , Prins Rienk 
Published: March 2017

The Dutch have implemented a new strategy – demand-based delivery of rehabilitation and employment services – in order to improve the return to the workforce of public benefits recipients. People with disabilities who need to leave the benefit rolls may apply for a voucher known as a “personal labour re-integration budget”. This programme provides the responsibility, tools and budget to carry out a custom-made plan to acquire services for empowerment and return to the labour market. The background of the Dutch approach, initial implementation problems, favourable outcomes and subsequent nationwide application, which is now also available for the unemployed and persons on social assistance, are reported.
Flexicurity: In Pursuit of a Moving Target
Authors: Bredgaard Thomas , Larsen Flemming , Madsen Per Kongshøj 
Published: March 2017

Flexicurity – the contraction of flexibility and security – has in a short time become a political celebrity. In this article we trace back the genealogy of this celebrity. We begin by analysing the reasons behind the current celebration of flexicurity by the European Commission, and describe the European evolution of the concept. Then we take one step backwards and describe the conceptualisation and development of the Danish case of flexicurity, which is currently the most prominent real-life example of flexicurity in action. Our final step back in time takes us to the Dutch origins of the concept. With the near-universal celebration of flexicurity in both policy and academic circles there is a real risk of the concept becoming diluted, and eventually meaningless. In order to understand what flexicurity could and should mean we discuss various definitions of flexicurity, and arrive at a new understanding of flexicurity as an analytical concept. We suggest distinguishing between internal and external dimensions of flexibility and security, and arrive at two ideal models of either internal or external flexicurity. This distinction opens up for empirical enquiry combinations of flexibility and security that go beyond simple trade-offs and include virtuous and vicious circles between flexibility and security. The distinction also raises the issue of the difficulty in shifting from one balance of flexicurity towards another – and, thus, uncritically trying to imitate specific flexicurity examples.
Modernisation of European Coordination of Sickness Benefits
Authors: Marhold Franz 
Published: March 2017

The coordination of sickness benefits by the new Regulation 883/2004 has been modernised to some extent, particularly in providing social protection for frontier workers and members of their families and for pensioners. The achievements of the new regulations do not, however, go beyond what could have been reached by a revision of Regulation 1408/71. The relationships between cross-border cost reimbursement and patient mobility, between Treaty rights based on the right to free movement of services and to coordination of social security are still unsettled. They are even further complicated by the proposed Directive on the exercise of patient rights in cross-border healthcare. The relationship between care benefits related to sickness and special non-contributory benefits needs further clarification and is not comprehensively governed by the regulation.
The Coordination of Family Benefits by Regulation 883/2004
Authors: Devetzi Stamatia 
Published: March 2017

Two of the most important questions concerning family benefits in European Social Security Law are concerned with determining the competent state and deciding whether the amount of benefit should be fixed at the level payable in the State of residence of the family or at the level payable in the State where the parents work. The new Regulation 883/04 gives answers to these and other questions. Moreover, the new provisions on family benefits contribute to the simplification of the European Social Security law. This paper presents the most important changes in the ‘Family Benefits’ Chapter. It then discusses the recent Bosmann Judgement of the ECJ, a judgement concerning the cross-border granting of family benefits. In the third part, the ECJ Ruling in the Geven Case is presented as an example of the consequences the new Regulation can have on national law. It is argued that the application of the new rules on family benefits in conjunction with the new, broader definition of the persons covered by the Regulation and the rules on conflict of laws can result in a lot more changes than one might think at first glance.
Front-Line Work in Employment Services after Ten Years of New Public Management Reform: Governance and Activation in Australia, the Netherlands and the UK
Authors: Considine Mark , Lewis Jenny M. 
Published: March 2017

This study examines the impact of adminstrative reforms upon the work of frontline staff in the employment services of three refrom-oriented countries – Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. These changes have involved greater use of private agents, more detailed performance contracts, clearer expectations about outcomes for job-seekers, and increased competition between agencies seeking government work. The study compares the work characteristics and strategies of front-line staff in agencies in the three systems in 2008 and a decade earlier, using surveys. The results show that there are substantial differences in the level of tailoring and investment in these countries. There are three relatively stable modes of governance in these cases and the most stable of these types across countries and across time is what we term the corporate-market mode – more generally labelled New Public Management (NPM). Despite the expectations of theorists and of reformers, the role of network governance proves neither as stable nor as generalised as expected.
Entitlement to Socially-Covered Health Care vs. Priority Setting: ECJ'S Decomposition of the NHS?
Authors: Sokol Tomislav 
Published: March 2017

The European Court of Justice has, in just over a decade, developed considerable jurisprudence on persons accessing health care in EU Member States in which they are not socially protected. The approach is centred on the individual patient's entitlement to receive the best possible health care to alleviate his/her medical problem anywhere in the EU. However, this has created serious problems regarding the balance of basic principles governing the English NHS, and the free movement principle of EU law. The aim of the paper is to analyse the English case-law on entitlement to socially-covered health care and see if suggestions for a more balanced EU regime on patient mobility can be made. The analysis of the English case-law demonstrates that decisions on entitlement to health care are focused on limited resources and making priority decisions at the local level. The investigation of the Court of Justice jurisprudence shows that the Court gives priority to individual patients' needs and entitlements, while disregarding limited resources and priority decisions. On the basis of these findings, the paper proposes a more balanced course of action by the Court of Justice, taking into account the logic of the English courts.
In-Work Benefits: Effective Social Protection or ‘Emperor's New Clothes’?
Authors: Cousins Mel 
Published: March 2017

In work benefits (IWBs) were initially introduced in the UK and USA in the 1970s and have expanded greatly in scope and geographical coverage in recent decades.1 Recent studies by organisations such as the OECD have presented a generally positive picture of IWBs, but a review of the evidence suggests that their achievements are less clear-cut and more contestable than might be expected. The purpose of this article is to examine the role of in-work benefits (IWBs) in four OECD countries (France, New Zealand, UK and the USA) in order to establish the impact these benefits have had on employment and poverty and to assess the extent to which they meet their objectives. Drawing on a review of the international literature and an in-depth study of the four countries concerned, this article argues that IWBs can play a useful role in increasing the employment rate of specific groups. However, the impact of IWBs is limited and their effect on overall employment is small. The large-scale expansion of IWBs in the UK and USA would appear to be driven by particular policy views in these societies rather than by the policy outcomes achieved by IWBs, and this trend is unlikely to be replicated, especially in continental Europe.
National Healthcare Planning and the Internal Market: A Conceptual View on the Impact of EU Law on Member States' Regulatory Autonomy in the Field of Healthcare
Authors: Walus Andreas 
Published: March 2017

Public healthcare is a fundamental task of welfare states. Its real character is ambiguous though as, on the one hand, healthcare is a cornerstone of social security while, on the other, it is an enormous economic sector. At the same time, maintenance of healthcare services constitutes one of the biggest financial burdens on public budgets and will remain so for the foreseeable future. In order to cope with this challenging subject matter, Member States have evolved a wealth of healthcare regulations. Considering the potential cross-border economic activity in the healthcare sector by patients and healthcare providers, the question of the compatibility of national healthcare planning with European Union Law arises. This article analyses how Member States' healthcare planning is both limited and preserved by European primary law and by the CJEU's case law. The study reveals a surprising result.
Endovascular treatment for chronic lower extremity ischaemia with sub-acute deterioration
Authors: Yuan Liangxi , Guo Songlin , Dong Jian , Zhou Jian , Lu Qingsheng , Bao Junmin , Jing Zaiping 
Published: March 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to report the efficacy of endovascular treatment for patients with sub-acute (14-day to 2-month) deterioration of chronic lower extremity ischaemia. Materials and Methods: Between June 2013 and May 2015, 26 consecutive patients (22 men, 4 women; mean age, 68.6 years; range, 50–86 years) were treated for sub-acute deterioration of chronic lower extremity ischaemia in our hospital. All patients were treated with catheter-directed thrombolysis initially and then adjunctive percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and/or stenting was performed to correct underlying lesions. Results: The 26 intra-arterial thrombolysis procedures were all performed in native lower arteries including 8 iliac, 13 femoropopliteal and 5 diffuse occlusions involving the iliac and femoropopliteal segments. Lesion length decreased from 194 mm (70–350 mm) to 92 mm (20–270 mm) after the thrombolytic procedures, and the residual lesions were corrected with percutaneous transluminal angioplasty alone in 4 (15.4%) limbs and stenting in 22 (84.6%) patients. No cross-joint stenting was seen in the 22 affected limbs that used stents. Throughout the treatment process, nine patients with intermittent claudication achieved an unrestricted walking distance, and 17 patients with rest pain or foot ulcers showed significant symptom improvement. The mean ankle-brachial index increased from 0.42 ± 0.16 preoperatively to 0.81 ± 0.25 postoperatively ( p < 0.01). Conclusion: Endovascular therapy with catheter-directed thrombolysis and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty/stenting is feasible for sub-acute deterioration of chronic lower extremity ischaemia patients with favourable midterm results.