The thesis focuses on the employment structures and employment trends within the EU Member States using the ICSO-88 classification for the detailed analysis of the German and Czech labour markets. The aim of the thesis is the prove the readiness of the Lisbon process to fullfil its main goal - to kepp the high employment rates eitihin the EU.

The thesis focuses on analysis of competitiveness policy of the European Union. The aim of the thesis is to define the competitiveness policy represented by long-term growth strategies: Lisbon strategy and later Europe 2020, to analyze shift in perception of the competitiveness from the beginning of this century till nowadays concerning the changes of both economic environment and the European Union. First part defines theoretical approaches to competitiveness including "European model". Second part deals with the analysis of the economic situation and identifies main challenges for the EU. Third part compares Lisbon strategy with Europe 2020. Finally, the Europe 2020 strategy is critically evaluated.

The research is aimed at investigating how the common EU social and economic strategies, namely the 'Lisbon strategy' and the 'EU 2020', have been influential as a 'EU incentive' in European social partners having drawn the matter of employment of migrant workers both at Member state level and at European level by looking into their respective changes in responses towards the matter in the course of the two strategies. The research has found that there have been changes made in the European social partners' responses regarding the problematic matter of migrant workers' employment, namely precarious working conditions and lower employment rates than native workers, at all levels. To be specific, the trade unions have begun to emphasize more proactive protection of migrants at workplace than before. However, there is little evidence that it was the result of either the Lisbon or the EU2020. It was rather much more because of the evolving European economic market circumstance that has been getting liberalized more actively as the single market goes on, featured by the problematic side of the increase of posted workers and agency workers. Especially, the research is also aimed at shedding a light on how the Lisbon and the EU2020 have been articulated in the two different economic, social and employment models, namely the Nordic model and the Western model by investigating the Swedish case and the UK case in the study of Member state level social partners.

The question of the democratic deficit have been a much discussed topic in the field of European studies throughout the years. The lack of accountability in the decision-making together with lack of trust and interest from the public have created a situation where the unions democratic legitimacy has been questioned. The goal of this essay is to analyze what measures the EU have taken to restore the union’s legitimacy and in which direction it’s heading structure-wise through the recent ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and to examine if the public will be allowed to participate in the legislative process somehow. For this purpose I have used a qualitative text analysis of the democratic parts of the Lisbon Treaty to find out what reforms or changes that matter for the democratic process. Together with this I have also used Dimitris N. Chrysschoou’s four models for a democratic Europe to see in which direction the EU is going in terms of the nature of the union’s structure in order to determine the prospects of a legitimate governance. My conclusion is that although the member states after the Lisbon Treaty still enjoy much independence the EU is moving towards a more federalized governance and that the institutional reforms give good conditions for an accountable decision-making, while it’s doubtful to imagine that the reforms to increase the public’s participation will have any notable effects.

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity International University, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-135).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity International University, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-135).

The main aim is to describe the competitiveness of the European union not only from the view of single member countries but also as a whole. As I meassuring instrument to identify competitive advantages of EU countries I used the Global Competitiveness Report from World Economic Forum. In the last chapter I describe the forming of Lisbon agenda, goals and progress so far.

The main objective of this thesis is to analyze the competitiveness of the EU countries. First chapter is about the competitiveness, first theoretically, then in numbers based on the the competitiveness index of WEF and IMD and Doing Business of the Worl Bank. The second chapter describes the Lisbon Stategy and analyses the Lisbon score. The last chapter compares the European and the US economy. The conclusion contains recommendations to the next development of the competitiveness of the European union.

This thesis focuses on the contest that can be defined as an epoch in Irish political discourse, the Treaty of Lisbon referendum 2008. It approaches the subject from an alternative angle to current research, which predominately focuses on the outcome of the referendum rather than the causes of the outcome. Principally, this research offers a critical discourse analysis of the preliminary debate covering the sessions of Dáil Éireann from the begin of the debate on 3rd April 2008 to the final statements on the 23rd April 2008 which debated the controversial government backed Treaty of Lisbon. This thesis wishes to trace the ways in which opposition actors attempted to resonate their arguments with chronicled master frameworks of Irish foreign policy a tactic which has emerged as a key ideological resource, and to the extent they utilised neutrality as a persuasive tool in influencing the outcome of the debate.

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