Bart Vanhercke has been appointed as Visiting professor at the College of Europe (Bruges campus), a postgraduate institute of European studies. During this academic year, he will be teaching a course on ‘The Social Dimension of European Integration’ to an interdisciplinary group of students from across Europe. The course addresses the interaction between EU economic and social policies as well as the variety of EU social policy instruments. It will ultimately ask this question: is the ‘European social model’ a reality or an elusive concept?
European integration
The OSE was awarded a two-year project for providing the Belgian National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (NIHDI/INAMI) and the Belgian health authorities with expertise and analysis on EU policies with a potential impact on national health care systems. This project is the continuation of a longstanding collaboration between the OSE and the NIHDI in this field.
The new project includes:
Within the framework of agreements concluded with the FEC (Formation Education Culture Asbl) in 2008 and 2009, the European Social Observatory has produced several fact sheets on the EU and its main social challenges. In 2010, the Observatory likewise participated in various trade-union training courses dealing with Europe. Furthermore, the OSE conducted a report (Cahiers FEC) on European taxation.
Sebastiano Sabato holds a PhD in Political Science at the Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane / Italian Institute of Human Sciences (SUM) in Florence. His current research interests include EU socio-economic governance, comparative social policy, social investment and social innovation, industrial relations, interest groups analysis, policy learning and policy transfer.
Team OSE
Rita Baeten, master of social sciences, is a senior policy analyst at the OSE. Her research activities focus on the impact of European integration on national healthcare systems and on their social character.