Publications

TheLabour Party government elected in May 1997 continued in office. The next
general election is due by May 2002 but is widely expected to take place in
the spring of 2001. In the local council elections held in May 2000, the
Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats gained seats and the control of a
number of councils at the Labour Party's expense.

The UK led the way in the deregulation of the energy sector, a process that
has now spread throughout Europe. In 1999 the first phase of the creation of
the "European internal market" in electricity was completed. Under Directive
96/92/EC [1], Member States were required to open up 25% of the national
market in electricity provision to competition, with this share planned to
expand in the future. In a communication responding to the recommendations of
the March 2000 Lisbon European Council (EU0004241F [2]), the European
Commission declared that it would take into account social aspects when
presenting concrete proposals for the acceleration of liberalisation in the
European energy market.

[1] http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=en&numdoc=31996L0092&model=guichett
[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined-social-policies/lisbon-council-agrees-employment-targets

The announcement on 12 December 2000 by General Motors, the USA-based parent
company of Vauxhall Motors, that it is to shut its Luton plant dealt another
blow to an already beleaguered UK car industry. BMW's shock break-up of the
troubled Rover Group started the ball rolling in March (UK0004164F [1]).
General Motors - like Ford, which announced the ending of vehicle production
at Dagenham in May (UK0005174F [2]) - blames overcapacity within the European
market and increased pressure on new car prices as the reasons for its
decision to withdraw from Luton with the loss of 2,200 jobs. More generally,
automotive manufacturers have continued to highlight the adverse impact on
the competitiveness of their UK operations of the UK remaining outside the
group of EU Member States that have introduced the euro single currency (the
"euro-zone"). Honda recently announced that it would not be introducing a new
small car at its plant in Swindon, and Nissan's plant in Sunderland faces an
uncertain future as it awaits the decision on whether the new Micra will be
built there.

[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/substantial-job-losses-predicted-as-bmw-sells-rover-and-land-rover
[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined-working-conditions/immediate-future-of-longbridge-secured-after-sale-of-rover-to-phoenix-consortium

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Industrial Society have published a
set of guidelines designed to promote consultation between employers and
employees over workplace rules on the use of e-mail and access to the
internet. The guidelines say that "sensible solutions" are needed which
should encourage responsible behaviour and good management practice while
safeguarding worker privacy.

On 27 November 2000, the Prime Minister and other leading members of the
government announced a series of measures to limit the impact of regulation
on business. In the area of employment relations, the key reforms proposed by
the government centre on amending employment tribunal procedures to deter and
penalise the pursuit of unreasonable cases by claimants. The initiative is
designed to meet sustained criticism from employers' groups of the growing
administrative burden imposed by regulation (UK0004165N [1]) and of the
emergence of a "compensation culture" reflected in record increases in
employment tribunal claims against employers.

[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/governments-pro-business-credentials-under-attack

Im Jahr 2000 bewegte sich die Wirtschaftsleistung der EU-Mitgliedstaaten
weiterhin im Rahmen der vom Stabilitätspakt vorgegebenen Parameter, die die
Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion (WWU) begleiten. Die Volkswirtschaften der 11
Länder der "Eurozone" (diejenigen, die in die dritte Stufe der WWU
eingetreten sind und die einheitliche europäische Währung eingeführt
haben) konvergierten weiter, während die Mitgliedstaaten außerhalb der
Eurozone (Dänemark, Griechenland, Schweden und vereinigtes Königreich) im
Jahr 2000 nach wie vor bestrebt waren, ihre Wirtschaftsleistung an die der
Länder der Eurozone anzupassen. 2000 intensivierte Griechenland seine
Vorbereitungen zur Einführung der einheitlichen Währung und trat am 1.
Januar 2001 der WWU bei. Griechenland ist seit ihrem Beginn am 1. Januar 1999
das erste Land, das in die dritte Stufe eintritt. Es ist nicht zu erwarten,
dass die drei übrigen Länder auf kurze Sicht an der Währungsunion
teilnehmen. Die dänische Bevölkerung stimmte im September dagegen,
Referenden in Schweden und dem Vereinigten Königreich stehen noch aus, bevor
über eine Mitgliedschaft entschieden wird.

During 2000, the economic performance of the EU Member States continued to be
kept within the parameters of the stability pact accompanying Economic and
Monetary Union (EMU). The economies of the 11 "euro-zone" countries (those
which have joined the third stage of EMU and the euro single currency)
continued to converge, while those which remained outside the euro-zone in
2000 (Denmark, Greece, Sweden and the UK) continued to peg their economic
performance to the euro-zone. During 2000, Greece intensified preparations to
join the single currency and it became a member on 1 January 2001. Greece is
the first country to join the third stage since it was launched on 1 January
1999. It is unlikely that any of the three remaining countries will join in
the short term ? the population of Denmark voted in September not to do so
and referendums will have to be held in Sweden and the UK before any decision
about membership can be made.

Durant 2000, la performance économique des États membres de l'UE a
continué à se maintenir dans les paramètres du pacte de stabilité
accompagnant l'Union économique et monétaire (UEM). Les économies des 11
pays de la "zone euro" ceux qui ont adhéré à la troisième phase de l'UEM
et à la monnaie unique de l'euro) ont continué à converger, tandis que
celles des pays demeurés en dehors de la zone euro 2000 (le Danemark, la
Grèce, la Suède et le Royaume-Uni) ont continué à lier leur performance
économique à la zone euro. En 2000, la Grèce a intensifié les
préparations destinées à lui permettre d'adhérer à la monnaie unique, ce
qu'elle a fait le 1er janvier 2001. Elle est le premier pays à adhérer à
la troisième phase, depuis le lancement de celle-ci le 1er janvier 1999. Il
est peu probable que les trois pays restants le fassent dans un avenir
proche: les Danois ont voté contre en septembre et des référendums devront
être organisés en Suède et au Royaume-Uni avant qu'une décision puisse
être prise concernant l'adhésion.

The government which was elected in September 1998 for a period of four years
will remain in power until September 2002. It is a minority Social Democratic
Party (Socialdemokratiska Arbetarepartiet, SAP) administration that mostly
rules with the help of the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet) and the Green Party
(Miljöpartiet de Gröna).

Extensive labour market programmes, offering subsidised employment and
training to unemployed people, do not significantly contribute to increasing
pressure on wages. This is the main finding of a paper published in November
2000 by two economic researchers at the governmental Office of Labour Market
Policy Evaluation (Institutet för arbetsmarknadspolitisk utvärdering,
IFAU), Anders Forslund and Ann-Sofie Kolm ("Active labour market policies and
real-wage determination - Swedish evidence", Working Paper 2000:7, IFAU [1]).
The aim was to investigate whether the extremely poor conditions in the
Swedish labour market throughout much of the 1990s, and the very high
incidence of labour market programmes, had brought about a change in
previously observed patterns. A number of earlier studies on the same problem
have concluded that the effect of extensive labour market programmes is
indeed significant, in that they push wage pressure upwards in the Swedish
economy.

[1] http://www.ifau.se/swe/pdf/wp00-7.pdf