Forum 2006
Competitive Europe - Social Europe: partners or rivals?
Dublin, 1-3 November 2006
Participants
Bertie Ahern TD is currently Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland, following his re-election to this post for a second five-year term on 6 June 2002. His previous ministerial appointments included Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) of Ireland and Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (November–December 1994) and Minister for Finance (November 1991–December 1994). During previous years he has also been Minister for Industry and Commerce, Minister for Labour and Minister for State at the Department of the Taoiseach and at the Department of Defence, and Government Chief Whip. During his long political career he has been appointed to numerous posts including Lord Mayor of Dublin, Member of the Dublin City Council, Fianna Fáil front bench spokesperson on youth, opposition Chief Whip and Fianna Fáil front bench spokesperson on Labour. Bertie Ahern has been leader of the Fianna Fáil party since 1994.
Robert Anderson is coordinator of the Living Conditions research programme at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. This is an EU agency charged to provide information for policy-making, specifically at EU level. He worked previously at the European Office of WHO and on health and social research in the UK and Germany. His current research activities include: monitoring quality of life and living conditions in the EU; projects on ageing and changes in employment over the life course; measures to promote the social inclusion of people with chronic illness; and creation of employment in care services.
Maria Helena André has been deputy general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) since May 2003. During the period 1992-2003, she was ETUC confederal secretary in charge of various portfolios: labour market, education and vocational training, migration and youth, racism and ethnical minorities, regional policy, and European structural funds. Prior to this, she was a member of SITESE (Sindicato dos Trabalhadores de Escritório, Comércio, Serviços e Novas Tecnologias) General Council (1990-1991) and president of ETUC Youth Steering Committee (1988-1991). Earlier in her career, Ms André occupied several posts with the Portuguese General Workers’ Union (UGT-P) before becoming head of the UGT-P International Department in 1988. Ms André holds a degree in Modern Languages and Literature from the University of Lisboa, Portugal.
Lorenzo Bordogna is professor of economic sociology and comparative industrial relations at the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Milan and head of the Department of Labour and Welfare Studies at the same university. Between 2000 and 2004, he was scientific coordinator of the PhD programme in economic sociology, based at the University of Brescia. Since June 2005, he is president of AISRI, the Italian Association of Industrial Relations, and since September 2006, he is a member of the Executive Committee of IIRA (International Industrial Relations Association). His research interests are: labour market institutions and economic performance, social and institutional factors of economic growth, labour relations and European integration, public services employment relations, and industrial conflict, with a special interest in the area of regulating and resolving labour disputes in the public services.
Saxon Brettell is director of Cambridge Econometrics. He provides economic analysis for public and private bodies in economic development and assesses the effects of government intervention. He has directed a range of pan-European collaborative studies for the European Commission, including examining the factors underpinning the relative competitiveness and convergence of Europe’s regions. He is currently leading a major study for the European Commission looking at the economic and cultural impact of state support for film production in the Member States. Saxon Brettell is an academician of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK) and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce.
Willy Buschak is deputy director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. Before joining the Foundation, he was confederal secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, where his areas of responsibilities included European Works Councils, worker involvement in the European Company (SE), information and consultation, merger control and telework (negotiations towards a European framework agreement). He is the author of numerous books and articles on social history, particularly on the subject of resistance to national socialism in Germany. His most recent publication deals with globalisation and trade unions in the twenties and thirties of the twentieth century. Willy Buschak holds a PhD in history.
Alain Chouraqui is director of research at CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), and a lecturer in both French and foreign universities. He is the author and editor of numerous books and papers, translated into several languages, on sociology of labour, law in society, and industrial relations. He has been scientific coordinator in long-term programmes at French, European and international levels. He was twice elected president of the International Research Committee on Participation and Organisational Democracy (ISA). He is currently co-chairing an international study group on the European social model (IIRA). Alain Chouraqui has a background in law, political science and sociology.
Isabel da Costa is a senior researcher with the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), currently based at the Centre d'Etudes de l'Emploi (Employment Studies Centre) beside Paris, France. She is also a lecturer in industrial relations at the University of Paris-X Nanterre. Her main areas of research are: international comparisons in industrial relations; theoretical approaches to industrial relations; industrial relations in North America; industrial relations in Europe; globalisation and international industrial relations. Isabel da Costa studied labour history at the University of California and economics at the University of Paris-X Nanterre.
Thérèse de Liedekerke has been director for Social Affairs at Unice since 1996. She joined Unice in 1990 and was first appointed to the External Relations department. She became advisor in the Social Affairs department in 1993. Ms de Liedekerke holds a degree in political science from Brussels, Free University (Université Libre de Bruxelles), and an MSc in politics of the world economy from the London School of Economics.
Stavroula Demetriades, is coordinator of the Industrial Relations research programme at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. She is responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of research projects. She manages the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO) and also works on projects such as quality of industrial relations, European Works Councils (EWCs), the European Social Model, research methodologies, etc. Stavroula studied political science and public administration, regional development and industrial relations in Greece and Denmark.
Ute Drewniak is a HR development and diversity consultant with special focus on the demands of globalisation and demographic change in Europe. From 2002 to 2006, she worked as a diversity manager in the Global Diversity team of Deutsche Bank, where she was responsible for mainstreaming diversity into strategic HR management, for diversity management training as well as for age and cultural diversity programmes. She began her career as a HR development specialist at Deutsche Bank in 1991 where she held several posts in the areas of management development, leadership programmes, change management and recruitment strategies. She graduated in psychology from the University of Marburg and holds a doctoral degree from the University of Giessen, in Germany.
Janez Drobnič is Minister for Labour, Family and Social Affairs in Slovenia. Prior to this, he was a Member of Parliament and chair of the Petitions Committee from 2000 to 2004. From 1998 to 2000 he was head of section in charge of the restructuring of socially-owned companies and employment and from 1996 to 1998 was goverment advisor at the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs. From 1989 to 1996, Mr Drobnič was adviser to the director in charge of the employment of persons with disabilities at the Employment Service of Slovenia. Mr Drobnič holds a Master’s degree in sociology.
Raul Eamets is professor of macroeconomics at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration and head of the Institute of Economics at the University of Tartu, in Estonia. He is currently involved, as an Estonian expert, in several research projects at European level. Mr Eamets was a national correspondant for the EIRO and EWCO European Foundation projects between 2003 and 2006. From 1997 to 2006, he participated in 22 international research projects. He is an expert in labour market flexibility, flexicurity, labour relations in the EU, and in macroeconomic developments of transitional economies. The author or co-author of 68 academic publications, Mr Eamets holds a PhD in Economics, and a BA in Law, both from the University of Tartu.
Claus Hjort Frederiksen was appointed Minister for Employment in the government formed by Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on 27 November 2001, and which was re-elected for a second term in 2005. He was secretary-general of the Danish Liberal Party from 1985 to 2001. From 1979 to 1983, Mr Frederiksen was secretary of the Employer Association for Industrial Trades, and was head of section in the Ministry for Agriculture during the period 1977-1979. Mr Frederiksen holds a degree in law from the University of Copenhagen.
Barbara Gerstenberger is a research manager at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. Since joining the Foundation in September 2001, she has been a member of the team setting up the European Monitoring Centre on Change. She became coordinator of this project in March 2004. Before joining the Foundation, she was a research officer with the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) in Brussels. During her time with the EMF, she was seconded to DG Employment for one year in 1999-2000, where she worked in the unit charged with the implementation of the proposals contained in the Gyllenhammar Report on the economic and social consequences of industrial change. Barbara Gerstenberger is a political scientist by training and holds a degree from Hamburg University and the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Catherine Glickman is director of personnel services at Tesco, where she has worked for the last 15 years. She has been in her present post for five years, leading and developing the approach to reward, employee relations, organisation design and shared services within the personnel division. Her previous roles within the company have been head of remuneration and benefits, and director of support office. Prior to joining Tesco, Ms Glickman worked for retailers Boots and Somerfield.
Willis Goldbeck is an independent health care, economics and social policy consultant based in Washington DC. A member of the Board of the Institute for Alternative Futures, his current projects include designing a public policy and government affairs programme for the Belgian pharmaceutical company UCB and developing a public health education programme on infectious diseases sponsored by Pfizer. Earlier, Mr Goldbeck worked with Jonas Salk at the Salk Institute. Previous work assignments include directing the European Commission’s CARE Telematics programme and working for the WHO in Copenhagen and Geneva. He also founded and ran the Washington Business Group on Health (including starting some 40 other companies and organisations), was a policy and technology assistant for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and a correspondent for TIME Magazine.
Constantin Gurdgiev is the editor of Business & Finance, Ireland’s largest business publication, dean of finance with CBSM, and a research fellow atTrinity College, Dublin. He also is a founder and an academic director of the Open Republic Institute (www.openrepublic.org) – Ireland’s only independent economic and social policy think-tank. He is an honorary fellow of the Copenhagen Institute, Member of the Academy of Political Science, American Economic Association, American Finance Association and the Executive Panel of the McKinsey & Co. Dr Gurdgiev’s academic research focuses on theoretical models of habit formation, taxation and international finance. His contributions to academic literature range from analysis of international debt markets to financial economics and theoretical macroeconomics. He is currently working on academic publications in the areas of international debt and development, finance and economics of property rights. Dr. Gurdgiev holds a PhD in Macroeconomics and Finance from Trinity College, Dublin, an MA in Economics from Johns Hopkins University, and an MA in Pure Mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles.
John Halloran is the managing director of the European Social Network (ESN), which represents 10,000 chief executives and directors of public social care and health services in 23 countries. ESN contributes to social policy and practice in partnership with a wide range of interests, providing information to its members, publishing reports and coordinating projects and conferences. John Halloran was for 15 years a senior manager of public welfare services in the UK, where he was responsible for residential and community services for older and disabled people and family and child protection services. John Halloran has a master’s degree in business administration.
Karen-Margrethe Hansen Bager works as a senior consultant in the regional municipality of Bornholm, a small Danish island in the Baltic sea (43,000 inhabitants). Karen-Margrethe has been working in the area of regional development and international cooperation for the last 15 years. Her main task during the past year has been to establish a new so called ‘Growth Forum’ on the island, consisting of 20 Triple Helix members. The forum is about to present a new regional business development strategy. During the period 1995-1998, Karen-Margrethe worked as a national expert in the European Commission in the former DG XVI (now DG Regio), dealing with the Structural Fund programmes for Denmark. She has also five years experience working as a journalist.
Jorma Karppinen is director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. His career spans positions in scientific research, marketing and development, and senior management with Nokia Electronics, Afora Ltd and Fortum Engineering Ltd. Until most recently, he was director of business development at Metso Automation Ltd. in Helsinki, Finland, a global automation systems manufacturing company, where he previously held the posts of president of energy automation and then president of process automation systems. Through his extensive experience in business development and management over the past 20 years, Jorma Karppinen has developed a comprehensive understanding of the industrial changes facing Europe today. Through his extensive travels throughout his working life, he has developed a global view of the living and working conditions of many different countries. Jorma Karppinen has an academic background in engineering and technical physics, including a doctorate in technology gained in 1979.
Timo Kauppinen is a research manager at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. He is responsible for projects such as the European knowledge society foresight, quality of industrial relations, the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO), and social dialogue capacity building in the New EU Member States and in Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Turkey. He is also in charge of the Foundation internal seminars. Before joining the Foundation in 1997, Timo was a research manager at the Ministry of Labour in Finland. He is also a lecturer (docent) in sociology at the University of Helsinki.
Tony Killeen TD is Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in Ireland. His areas of responsibility include employment rights, social partnership, industrial relations, health and safety, redundancy and insolvency, skills training and lifelong learning, and access to employment for people with disabilities. Previously, Mr Killeen was chairman of the Joint Oireachtas (Parliamentary) Committee on Education and Science from 2002 to 2004. He is a former member of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, and a former chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Members' Interests in Dáil Éireann. A former teacher, Mr Killeen is a full-time public representative, first elected in 1992, and re-elected in 1997 and 2002.
Péter Kiss has been Minister of Social Affairs and Labour in Hungary since July 2006. He is also deputy to Prime Minister Gyurcsány. His previous government posts include Minister of Labour (1995–98), Minister of Employment and Labour (2002–3) and head of the Prime Minister’s Office (2003–6). He has been a member of the national board of MSZP (the Hungarian Socialist Party) since 1992, and a member of the national presidium since 1994. A Member of Parliament since 1992, Mr Kiss has represented Újpest (a constituency of Budapest) as an individual representative since 1994. In 1989, he was the founding president of the Leftist Youth Association and since 2001 he has been chair of the Leftist Group Platform.
Micheál Martin TD was appointed Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in September 2004, prior to which he served as Minister for Health and Minister for Education and Science. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann for the constituency of Cork South Central in 1989. He was former Chair of the Oireachtas All Party Committee on the Irish Language, a member of the Dáil Committee on Crime and a member of the Dáil Committee on Finance and General Affairs. He was opposition spokesperson for Education and the Gaeltacht from 1995 to 1997. He was Lord Mayor of Cork for 1992-1993. Prior to his appointment as a Cabinet Minister, he was a member of a wide range of educational, community and local committees. He is a member of the Fianna Fail party and has previously been the National Chair of Ógra Fianna Fáil and was also a member of the Aims and Structures Commission within the Party. Minister Martin graduated from University College Cork with an MA in Political History and was previously a secondary school teacher.
Maciej Mataczyński is a junior professor in European Law at the Faculty of Law in Poznań, Poland, since September 2003. He also works as an independent lawyer, advising law firms and individual clients. In June 2006, he was elected president of the supervisory board of PKN ORLEN S.A., a Polish company and one of central Europe’s largest refiners of crude oil. Maciej Mataczyński studied law at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, TMC Asser Institute in The Hague, the Academy of European Law in Florence and Harvard Law School (Fulbright scholarship). In June 2003, he received his doctoral degree (PhD in law) from the Faculty of Law in Poznan, specialising in European business law.
Peter Pelgrims is executive president of the Somati Group, the largest independent fire safety group in Belgium. He was previously managing director of Somati from 1980 to 2005. Mr Pelgrims is also advisor to several SMEs, and sits on the Board of several organisations: De Post, VKW Oost-Vlaanderen (Christian employers’ association), VOKA (Flanders employers’ association), ECOV (VTI) Aalst (Polytechnic School). He is president of Agoria Fire Technologies. Peter Pelgrims holds a Master’s degree in Applied Economics from UFSIA Antwerp, and a degree in business administration from Vlerick Management School.
Jane Pillinger is an independent researcher and policy advisor. Her particular areas of expertise include social, equality and employment policies. She advises trade unions, governments and EU institutions on these policy issues. She has been a special advisor to the UK House of Commons Select Committee on Employment. She holds honorary research positions at Leeds University and University College Dublin. Her most recent published work is an introduction to the experiences and situation of migrant women workers.
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is president of the Party of European Socialists at the European Parliament, a post to which he was elected in April 2004. He is a former Prime Minister of Denmark and was leader of the Danish Social Democrat Party for over a decade. Since 2002, he has been a leading figure in the development of new policy ideas for European social democrats, as chair of the PES High Level Group on globalisation and chair of the PES Lisbon Network. In addition to his current post, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is also chair of the Global Progressive Forum and a Member of the European Parliament, having led the Danish Social Democrats to a victory in the June 2004 European elections.
Jeremy Rifkin is the founder and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, DC. He is the author of 17 books on the impact of scientific and technological change on the economy, the workforce, society, and the environment. His latest book, published in 2005, is The European Dream: How Europe’s Vision of the Future is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream. Jeremy Rifkin is regularly invited to speak at government, business, labour and civic forums. He has lectured at more than 200 universities in some 25 countries over the past 30 years. Since 1994, Mr Rifkin has been a fellow at the Wharton School’s Executive Education Programme, where he lectures to CEOs and senior corporate management from around the world on new trends in science and technology and their impact on the global economy, society and the environment. Jeremy Rifkin holds a degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Hans-Werner Sinn is professor of Economics and Public Finance at the University of Munich (since 1984), president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research (since 1999), director of the Center for Economic Studies at the University of Munich (since 1991), and CEO of CESifo Inc. (since 1999). He is president elect of the International Institute of Public Finance (presidency 2006-2009), and member of the Council of Economic Advisors at the German Ministry of Economics (since 1989). His previous academic positions were at the Department of Economics, University of Western Ontario, Canada (1978–1979 and 1984–1985) and at the Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Mannheim (1974–1983). He is the author of 10 monographs and of more than 200 published articles. He has been a professor in economics since 1983, and has a Dr.rer.pol. from the University of Mannheim (1978).
Savvas Tsitouridis is Minister for Employment and Social Protection in Greece. He was Minister for Rural Development and Food from 2004 until 2006. Mr Tsitouridis has previously occupied several posts in the party Nea Dimokratia, including responsibility for environment, regional planning and public works from 2000 to 2004 and for agricultural development from 1997 to 2000. Prior to his ministerial appointments, he was a Member of the Greek Parliament representing the Prefecture of Kilkis and he participated in the Permanent Parliamentary Committee for Production and Commerce. He has also been a Member of the Committee for Economic Issues, the Committee for European Affairs and the Inter-Party Parliamentary Committee for Agricultural Policy.
Nikolaus G. van der Pas is director-general of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. He was director-general of DG Education and Culture from 2000 to 2005, and director-general of DG Enlargement from 1998 to 1999. Previously, he was first Head of the Task Force for Enlargement Negotiations. He also worked as an advisor in external relations to President Jacques Delors in the early 1990s, before becoming Head of Unit in DG External Relations. Mr van der Pas began his career in the European Commission in 1963 after obtaining a Master’s degree in Trade and Consular Studies.
Manfred Weiss has been professor of civil and labour law at the J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main since 1977. From 1974 to 1977, he lectured at the University of Hamburg. He is visiting professor in various universities in Belgium, France and the USA. Manfred Weiss was president of the German Association of Industrial Relations from 1990 to 1995, deputy president of the German Law Association from 1998 to 2002, and president of the International Industrial Relations Association (IIRA) from 1990 to 1993. He also works as a consultant with the European Commission, the ILO, and foreign governments. Mr Weiss is the author of several publications in the areas of civil law, employment law, labour law and sociology of law.
Ray Wild has been working in the field of education for more than 30 years, in particular in management education and executive development. He has worked in universities, business schools and companies, and has run programmes and taught in many countries worldwide. He now works also as a coach/mentor for senior staff in both public and private sector organisations.