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Recent developments in the global arena such as the COVID-19 pandemic and stresses in energy markets, made it clear that it is critical for the EU to ensure its strategic autonomy in the macroeconomic field. Strengthening the international role of the euro is one of the key elements in this regard. Through timely analysis of the changes stemming from the establishment of the Next Generation EU (NGEU), we seek to understand to what extent the NGEU can serve as a catalyst for the promotion of the international role of the euro. While it is implausible that the euro will overcome the primacy of the US dollar, we center our analysis around the transformation of the EU’s presence in capital markets. Following massive issuances of green bonds under the NGEU, the EU became the largest issuer of green bonds and has the potential to progress from a small supranational issuer to a sovereign size issuer. This means that the pool of highly rated euro-denominated safe assets will expand significantly. That is where we focus our analysis and where we see the opportunity of the NGEU for unlashing the potential of the euro and boosting its international role.

This field report provides detailed information on the methodological approach as well as on the process of data collection and analysis in EIWO project III – “Mechanisms and Origins of Late Working Life Exclusion”. EIWO project III is part of the qualitative part of the EIWO programme and is – together with EIWO project VI, VII, and VIII from phase II – one of the four projects in which primary data is collected. EIWO uses a mixed-methods approach in its nine sub-projects, so that quantitative and qualitative methods are used in combination to investigate – from a life course perspective – the topic of late working life and the potential of extension of working lives on different levels (micro, meso and macro level). Due to the different methodological approaches, results from some projects provide evidence for further investigations in other sub-projects, whereby, for example, results of the qualitative investigations can be validated using large data sets. In projects in the field of life course research, a mixed-methods approach is widely used because it allows for a detailed investigation of the structural, institutional and individual factors influencing the life course. EIWO project III focuses in particular on the micro level by taking the perspective of individuals and thus provides a basis on which quantitative analyses, e.g. in EIWO project IV, can be built on. “The main aims of project III are to analyse the nature and sources of inequalities in late working life employment/retirement and to identify individual/family responses and coping strategies” (Application EIWO programme). Based on these aims, the following research questions were formulated for EIWO project III: What events and circumstances can be identified over the life course that lead to social inequalities/exclusion in late working life employment from the individual perspective? What are the explanatory mechanisms? How are exclusion risks and inequalities assessed on the individual level, This working paper has been reviewed within the EIWO project group.

This chapter departs from two research projects to present the learnings, methodological challenges, and recommendations when involving users in participatory approaches of design research in home care. In the first project, older participants collected data through solicited diaries and photo elicitation, reflecting about their use of multiple medications and difficulties experienced with medication packaging design. The second project aimed at designing equipment for home healthcare to increase quality of care without turning the home into a hospital. From observations and interviews, prototypes were designed and evaluated in participation with both residents and personnel. Both projects actively involved participants in data collection and validation, letting the participants reflect on their own capabilities and how the design of healthcare products reinforced design exclusion in daily life. The participatory approaches that were used differed from previous research in which older people were usually displaced of their context of living and merely acting as testing participants for alternative designs. The use of participatory methods to collect and validate data with older people and their supportive network can help to design healthcare products that fit with real user needs and that contribute to promote good health and well-being.