In recent years, population ageing has attracted the attention of research and policy advisors in all European countries. Several policy actions have been directed toward ensuring optimal long-term care (LTC) for elderly people while maintaining fiscal rationality. LTC systems are very different across all European countries. Their design is characterized by diverse arrangements for the provision of care/organization and financing. Despite general concerns, the Polish LTC system is still at the bottom of the pile in terms of the organization and provision of care.
Topic:
Social Policy, Aging, Social Services, and Labor Market
In the context of making the European economic area competitive while reaching certain social and economic goals, the 2000 European Council at Lisbon initiated an ambitious implementation scheme on its Social Agenda introducing the Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC) as an instrument to streamline and optimize Community and Member States’ policies. The OMC method is a ‘soft governance’ approach aimed at generating real political commitment and different types of norms, procedural as well as substantive, through a highly institutionalized process of information sharing, deliberation, monitoring and learning.1 The method was first introduced in the area of employment and has been followed by an OMC on Social Inclusion (OMC/Incl.). Other focus areas are social protection/pensions and health care. The OMC on employment has recently undergone a first evaluation, and the Commission is preparing to subject the OMC/Incl. to its first evaluation.2
No OMC focuses specifically on minority inclusion but the OMC/Incl. has developed into one of the key areas of European Union (EU) policy implementation that addresses the socioeconomic exclusion of members of ethnic and Roma/Sinti minorities.
Topic:
Economics, Regional Cooperation, Minorities, European Union, and Social Services