The Impact of Eastern Enlargement on EU-Labour Markets
Eastern enlargement will change the character of the European Union (EU). While the EU was a club of rich economies at least from global perspectives throughout the post-war period, it will face a distinct gap in per capita income levels among its Members after accession of the ten candidate countries from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Given the magnitude of income and wage differentials, there are mounting concerns among the present EU Members that eastern enlargement may have a number of undesirable effects on labour markets and income distribution. In particular, a deterioration of living standards of the unskilled, associated with job displacement and wage losses triggered by the accession of low-income countries is feared.

Pensions Reform between Economic and Political Problem
Life expectancy and fertility rates are the key factors of ageing populations in the world. The likely evolutions of these factors suggest an inescapable rise in the share of elderly people in the overall population; this sharp increase in dependency ratios will have important impacts on public finances, potential output, etc., and overall, on the financial equilibrium of retirement pension schemes. These forecasted difficulties have induced a lot of political reactions. Policymakers have realised for some time that deficits of the pay-as-you-go 7 (PAYG) pensions schemes would quickly reach unsustainable levels, if no changes were introduced, whether in benefits or in contributions, so that reforms are often planned [OECD, 2000]. These reforms are of two types: parametric reforms within the PAYG system or reforms that are based on a partial or full shift towards funded schemes.