Making the Most of EU Labour Mobility. Report of a CEPS Task Force in Cooperation with the Bertelsmann Foundation. CEPS Task Force Report, 7 October 2014

This Task Force report combines the most recent data from Eurostat with national sources to highlight the most significant labour mobility trends within the EU. Overall, the recent recession has not induced previously immobile workers to become more mobile, at least not in the larger member states. Mobility flows have moved away from crisis countries in response to the economic downturn but the desired increase in south-north mobility has not been observed so far. This leads the authors to conclude that successfully fostering mobility within EU15 countries requires tremendous effort. It is important that workers who are willing and able to move are not discouraged from doing so by unnecessary barriers to mobility. Improving the workings of the EURES system and its online job-matching platform; better cooperation of national employment agencies; streamlining the recognition of qualifications; and supporting language training within the EU are important contributions to labour mobility. The authors conclude that the EU is right to defend the free movement of workers. National governments should keep in mind that their ability to tap into an attractive foreign labour supply also hinges upon the perception of how mobile workers are treated in destination countries. If the political imperative requires regulations to be changed, such as the one guiding the coordination of social security, it is essential that no new mobility barriers are put in place.

ECB Banking Supervision and beyond. CEPS Task Force Report, December 2014

With publication of the results of its Comprehensive Assessment at the end of October 2014, the European Central Bank has set the standard for its new mandate as supervisor. But this was only the beginning. The heavy work started in early November, with the day-to-day supervision of the 120 most significant banks in the eurozone under the Single Supervisory Mechanism. The centralisation of the supervision in the eurozone will pose a number of challenges for the ECB in the coming months and years ahead. This report analyses these challenges in detail, drawing on the discussions and presentations in the CEPS Task Force on ECB Banking Supervision, and reinforced by extensive research undertaken by the rapporteur. José María Roldán, Presidente, Asociación Española de Banca, served as Chairman of the Task Force.

The Cost of Servicing Greece’s Debt: A Sisyphean task? CEPS Commentary, 4 February 2015

Following the victory of Syriza in the Greek elections on January 25th, policy-makers, economists and concerned EU citizens are scrambling to understand the causes, modalities and consequences of a possible Greek default in order to anticipate and prepare for what is likely to unfold in the coming weeks and months. The debate on the sustainability of Greek public finances has often been characterised by a lack of clarity and even a certain degree of confusion. This brief note focuses first on the cost that Greece faces in servicing its debt and then asks whether this is a manageable or a Sisyphean task. It concludes by reflecting on the political implications of the new government’s announced intentions and whether these are being taken into account in the current debate over debt restructuring.

More Union in European Defence. CEPS Task Force Report, 26 February 2015

Years of uncoordinated cuts in defence spending have eroded the EU’s role as a security actor in what is now a multipolar world. This CEPS Task Force report aims to provide member states and the EU institutions with the narrative to strengthen defence cooperation in the EU, in the face of numerous emergencies in the EU’s strategic neighbourhood and ever-present security threats. The report is a record of the deliberations over several months between high-level experts in the field of European security and defence, who conclude that the Treaty of Lisbon demands and permits a great deal more in terms of our common security and defence activities. And that member states could achieve much more value for money than the €190 billion that they spend to keep up 28 national armies, comprising roughly 1.5 million service personnel. This report suggests policy actions to further the EU’s strategic, institutional, capabilities, and resources cooperation in the field of defence. Ultimately, in the view of the Task Force experts, further integration should amount to a European Defence Union.

Towards a balanced contribution of household credit to the economy. CEPS-ECRI Task Force Report, May 2015

While policy-makers are creating conditions to strengthen recovery, the debate on the role that retail finance should play in this respect focuses on corporate loans rather than on household credit. The improvement of financing conditions for firms in order to support further investment spending is certainly essential to ensuring sustainable growth. However, a significant part of EU growth will depend on the behaviour of households and on their ability to secure funding for their consumption and investment. It is therefore essential to place further emphasis on the different options available to stimulate household credit, in particular consumer loans. Nevertheless, in order to avoid past mistakes, regulators should continue to develop a framework where consumer loans (and by extension household credit) contributes to the economy in a balanced way. To achieve this, five main issues need to be addressed further.

Reforming the Market Design of EU Electricity Markets: Addressing the Challenges of a Low-Carbon Power Sector. CEPS Task Force Report, 27 July 2015

This CEPS Task Force Report focuses on whether there is a need to adapt the EU’s electricity market design and if so, the options for doing so. In a first step, it analyses the current market trends by distinguishing between their causes and their consequences. Then, the current blueprint of EU power market design – the target model – is briefly introduced, followed by a discussion of the shortcomings of the current approach and the challenges in finding suitable solutions. The final chapter offers an inventory of solutions differentiating between recommendations shared among Task Force members and non-consensual options.

Balancing Priorities and Emergency Measures: Luxembourg’s Council Presidency. EPIN Commentary No. 30/15 January 2016

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg held the reins of the EU Council presidency between 1 July and 31 December 2015. This was the 12th time that the second-smallest and the richest EU member state1 held the rotating Council presidency. As one of the founding members of the EU, Luxembourg has sound experience to bring to this role. It was, however, their first presidency since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and its introduction of the trio presidency format, this time including Italy and Latvia. Under the slogan ‘A Union for the Citizens’, Luxembourg had the task of concluding certain major dossiers before the end of the trio’s term and was able to contribute to its overarching agenda, especially regarding the priorities of financial stability, growth stimulation and the digital agenda.

European Bank Resolution: Making it work! Interim report of the CEPS Task Force on Implementing Financial Sector Resolution. CEPS Task Force Report, January 2016

From the start of 2016, new rules for bank resolution are in place – as spelled out in the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) – across the EU, and a new authority (the Single Resolution Board, or SRB) is fully operational for resolving all banks in the eurozone. The implementation issues of the new regime are enormous. Banks need to develop recovery plans, and authorities need to create resolution plans as well as set the minimum required amount of own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) for each bank. But given the diversity in bank structures and instruments at EU and global level, this will be a formidable challenge, above all with respect to internationally active banks. In order to explore ways in which the authorities and banks can meet this challenge, CEPS formed a Task Force composed of senior experts on banking sector reform and chaired by Thomas Huertas, Partner and Chair, EY Global Regulatory Network. This report contains its policy recommendations.

Europe’s Untapped Capital Market: Rethinking integration after the great financial crisis. Final report of the European Capital Markets Expert Group. Task Force Report, February 2016

In December 2014, ECMI and CEPS formed the European Capital Markets Expert Group (ECMEG) with the aim of providing a long-term contribution to the debate on the Capital Markets Union (CMU) project, proposed by the European Commission. After an intensive, year-long research effort and in-depth discussions with ECMEG members, this final report aims to rethink financial integration policies in the European Union and to devise an EU-wide plan to remove the barriers to greater capital markets integration. It offers a methodology to identify and prioritise cross-border barriers to capital markets integration and provides a set of policy recommendations to improve its key components: price discovery, execution and enforcement of capital markets transactions.

Traduzione audiovisiva e format gastronomici: proposta di sottotitolaggio in italiano e in francese della finale di Masterchef

In questo mio elaborato ho affrontato il tema della traduzione audiovisiva. Mi sono soffermata sulla tecnica del sottotitolaggio, concentrando la mia attenzione sui format televisivi di cucina. Sono stata spinta da una vera e propria passione per tutto ciò che riguarda la sfera gastronomica e i programmi televisivi a questa dedicati. Oggi queste trasmissioni hanno raggiunto un vero e proprio successo mondiale. La nostra è l’era dei grandi format televisivi che non parlano altro che di cucina, sfide tra i fornelli e critiche spietate. La cucina è alla base di ogni civiltà ed è parte integrante della cultura di ogni popolo. Tra le molteplici sfaccettature delle culture, troviamo la gastronomia che, dal mio punta di vista, è situata ai primi posti per importanza. L’Italia e la Francia hanno, sin da sempre, dimostrato la loro eccellenza all’interno del panorama mondiale enogastronomico: la cucina italiana, con la sua semplicità e i suoi sapori mediterranei, e quella francese, ricca di note tradizionali ed esotiche all’unisono. Per questo motivo, la mia attenzione si è rivolta a un talk show culinario ormai noto in tutto il mondo: MasterChef. In questo format televisivo, i concorrenti sono tenuti a sostenere varie prove, nelle quali bisogna realizzare piatti dell’arte culinaria del paese in cui il programma viene trasmesso e non solo. Scopo del programma è aggiudicarsi il titolo di miglior chef. Ho scelto chiaramente un’edizione a mio piacimento del programma per entrambi i paesi e ho proposto un sottotitolaggio per un particolare momento di questo format televisivo: la finale. Nella fattispecie, ho proposto il sottotitolaggio per la finale di MasterChef Italia in francese e per la finale di MasterChef France in italiano. Ho scelto di sottotitolare questo particolare momento della trasmissione televisiva, in quanto ritengo che, oltre ad essere uno dei più emozionanti per i telespettatori, sia ricco di elementi utili per un’analisi approfondita in ambito traduttivo.

Les approches de synthèse exploratoire dans le domaine de la santé

Contexte: Les approches de synthèse exploratoire (ou scoping studies) font actuellement l’objet de confusion dans leur appellation, définition et but. Elles continuent aussi de manquer de description méthodologique suffisante ou de détails sur le processus de l’analyse de données. Objectif : Cette synthèse exploratoire fait le point des connaissances sur les approches de synthèse exploratoire utilisées en santé. Plus spécifiquement, ses objectifs sont : 1) d’examiner le volume et l’étendue des synthèses exploratoires ainsi que les domaines d’étude dans lesquels elles ont été conduites; 2) de faire l’inventaire de leurs définitions, buts, forces et faiblesses; et 3) et de faire l’inventaire des approches méthodologiques existantes. Méthodes : Une recherche systématique des synthèses exploratoires a été entreprise jusqu’en avril 2014 dans les bases de données Medline, PubMed, ERIC, PsycINFO, CINAHL, EMBASE, EBM Reviews/Cochrane. Des critères d’inclusion et d’exclusion ont été appliqués afin de ne retenir que des études de langue française et anglaise présentant des définitions, méthodes et écarts de connaissances sur les synthèses exploratoires, ainsi que celles les comparant à d’autres types de revues de littérature. Deux reviseurs ont examiné de façon indépendante les références pertinentes. Une grille d’extraction des données a été conçue afin de recueillir pour chacune des études, les données contextuelles, les étapes méthodologiques ainsi que les définitions, buts et limites des synthèses exploratoires. Les données ont été répertoriées et classées afin de dresser un portrait global des approches de synthèses exploratoires dans un format narratif et tabulaire. Résultats : Sur deux cent cinquante-deux références identifiées, quatre-vingt-douze références pertinentes ont été retenues. Les synthèses exploratoires ont été publiées par 6 pays dans 10 domaines d’études et 73 journaux. Elles ont pour finalité d’être à la fois un support aux connaissances, une aide à la décision et un préalable à une revue systématique de littérature. Cinq auteurs ont été cités en référence et huit autres ont publié sur leur méthodologie. Elles ont 3 étapes importantes de réalisation dont la revue de littérature, la consultation des parties prenantes et la synthèse globale avec ou sans validation des résultats. Les synthèses exploratoires utilisent une méthode systématique, pas toujours exhaustive et sans évaluation formelle des études incluses Des notions claires portant sur leur définition, buts, forces et faiblesses ont été identifiées. Conclusion : Nous suggérons que de nouvelles études soient entreprises afin d’asseoir complètement cette méthode et dégager des lignes directrices pour les chercheurs qui s’y intéresseront.