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Purpose: We aimed to study whether country integration policy models were related to inequalities by immigrant status in depressive symptoms in Europe.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using data from 17 countries in the sixth wave of the European Social Survey (2012), comparing subjects born either in the country of residence (non-immigrants, N = 28,333) or in a country not classified as "advanced economy" by the IMF (immigrants, N = 2041). Depressive symptoms were assessed with the eight-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale. Countries were grouped into three integration policy regimes (inclusive, assimilationist, and exclusionist). Linear regressions were fitted adjusting first by age, sex, and education level, then sequentially by citizenship, perceived discrimination, and socio-economic variables.Results: In all integration regimes, immigrants report significantly more depressive symptoms than non-immigrants. The gap is the largest in exclusionist countries (immigrants score 1.16, 95% CI 0.65-1.68, points higher than non-immigrants in the depression scale), followed by assimilationist countries (0.85 and 0.57-1.13) and inclusive countries (0.60 and 0.36-0.84). Financial strain explains all the associations in inclusive countries, most of it in assimilationist countries, but only a small part in exclusionist countries.Conclusions: Across most European countries, immigrants seem to experience more depressive symptoms than the population born in the country, mostly reflecting their poorer socio-economic situation. Inequalities are larger in countries with more restrictive policies. Despite some limitations, this study adds new evidence to suggest that immigrants' health is shaped by integration policies in their host country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: There are concerns that tobacco control policies may be less effective in reducing smoking among disadvantaged socioeconomic groups and thus may contribute to inequalities in adolescent smoking. This study examines how the association between tobacco control policies and smoking of 15-year-old boys and girls among 29 European countries varies according to socioeconomic group.Methods: Data were used from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study conducted in 2005/2006 comprising 50,338 adolescents aged 15 years from 29 European countries. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the association of weekly smoking with components of the Tobacco Control Scale (TCS), and to assess whether this association varied according to family affluence (FAS). Analyses were carried out per gender and adjusted for national wealth and general smoking rate.Results: For boys, tobacco price was negatively associated with weekly smoking rates. This association did not significantly differ between low and high FAS. Levels of tobacco-dependence treatment were significantly associated with weekly smoking. This association varied between low and high FAS, with higher treatment levels associated with higher probability of smoking only for low FAS boys. For girls, no tobacco policy was significantly associated with weekly smoking, irrespective of the FAS.Conclusions: Results indicated that most tobacco control policies are not clearly related to adolescent weekly smoking across European countries. Only tobacco price seemed to be adequate decreasing smoking prevalence among boys, irrespective of their socioeconomic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the bill the Small Business Act of 1953, that limits the bidding opportunities for European Union contractors in the U.S. It focuses on the similarities and differences among the small business-specific procurement policies developed by the U.S. Government and Europe. It also examines small business procurement policies across several key considerations, that includes the policy framework, definitions of small firms, and promotion of economic and social sustainability.

Progress in market integration over the past two decades has come at the expense of growing flexibility in the laws that govern the single market (SM) as well as the way that these laws are implemented. This differentiated integration comes in four forms: soft; informal; multi-speed; and opt-out differentiation. We examine how the completion of the SM has been held back in the varied implementation of EU competition policy and variation in national corporate law, energy markets, services and taxation. These sectors and issue areas form the frontier in which the main political struggles over the future shape of the SM take place, and in which differentiation is most clearly manifested. The SM notion supposedly entails a concrete set of substantive policy commitments that form the basis of the 'ever closer union'. However, increasing differentiation undermines the identification of the EU's core constitutional commitments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The forces of globalisation now impacting on local economies pose threats to the existing paradigm of competences and routines, yet simultaneously offer opportunities to integrate new knowledge and learning. This is particularly pertinent with respect to Europe's 'mature regions', which are undergoing a major economic restructuring by trying to shift from traditional manufacturing activities to hybrid activities that comprise a combination of manufacturing and a higher component of intangible inputs and related knowledge service activities. The objective of the article is to discuss the concept of 'place leadership' by looking at how the embedded skills, knowledge and cumulated learning of a place can be used by its institutional infrastructure to identify sustainable growth trajectories. In other words, its aim is to explore how the economic, social, institutional and cultural aspects of places shape the opportunities for upgrading and renovation drawing upon their historical specialisation. The conceptual contribution of the article draws on two case studies, in the West Midlands, UK and in Prato, Tuscany, where we study the processes of decision-making, forms of leadership and ultimately the nature of local leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers different economic policies likely to affect the social economy sector as an institutional sector. In a first time it sets up an analytical framework which allows to apprehend the policies contents and offers three typologies. In the light of this framework it first makes a global evaluation of policies implemented in Europe and then focuses on Spain, one of the Union countries with the highest level of development of these policies. Finally, the author evaluates the efficiency of the main measures of economic policy applied in this country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on a project funded by the Target Socio-Economic Research Programme of the European Union Fourth Framework Programme. It cites the universities and organization that participated in the implementation of the project. It discusses the context and scope of the project. The article also discusses the national research policies and the transition of such policies from government to governance. It also emphasizes the role played by universities in the transition of the research system in Europe. The role of research organizations in the field of European research is also discussed in this article

The article focuses on several initiatives in Europe for the sustainable improvement of food security in face of climate change. It says that Europe, as a global leader in greenhouse gas emission policy, is capable of addressing issues of food insecurity and natural resource preservation. It mentions the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI), joined by 21 European countries that will tackle with the said issues. It cites various factors to consider for the achievement of goals such as connecting to models of agro-ecology and socioeconomics.

The article offers news briefs on chemicals. The opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the proposal concerning the export and import of dangerous chemicals has been published. The opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the proposal concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market has been published.