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Introduction Europe in Progress, Model and Facts is the second volume in the series Europe's Economic Future launched in 1994. It is in keeping with the will expressed by the University Robert Schuman and implemented by CESAG, the research centre of IECS Strasburg, to observe and to analyse European reality; not through idealized models or abstract diagrams but out in the real world, close to the lives and actions of Europe's citizens and companies. This research, undertaken by leading academic figures of different countries, offers a wide spectrum of reality in evolution and Europe's characteristic diversity. This diversity appears to be both a blessing and a handicap because the adaptation process linked to European integration and the definition of global competitive strategies demands unequal efforts. It is therefore understandable that uncertainties arise, that tensions appear amongst partners who, in some areas of social economic or financial life, stand together but refuse a constraining solidarity in other areas. However one thing is certain: Europe's construction progresses step by step. This deep-seated reality is enhanced by cross-border investments, by the setting up of common rules and standards, by the creation of collective, common instruments, by factor mobility, by intensified exchanges of goods and services, by improved understanding of behaviours and cultures and by learning from others. Europe, with twelve members or more, has a socio-economic life "per se" which, with the adjustment of varying difficulties, is on the road to improvement.
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. Europe's Economic Future: Advantages and Drawbacks for Italy's Activities.- 3. Public Accounting and Auditing in the European Union.- 4. Welfare Enterprises in Europe: The Case of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK.- 5. American Foreign Investment in Central and Eastern Europe: Short-term Risk vs. Long-term Profits.- 6. The New German Federal State-A Starting Point for Creating Businesses in Eastern European Countries ?.- 7. Appraisal of Foreign Direct Investments in the Czech Republic (The Case of French Foreign Investments).- 8. The Internationalisation of Small and Medium Sized Food and Drink Firms.- 9. Internationational Financial Markets in ECU: The Impact of a Difficult Consensus.- 10. Subsidiarity and Ecologically Based Taxation: Aspirations and Options.- 11. Technology and the Size of the Public Sector.- 12. Privacy Protection, Statistical Confidentiality, National Statistical Systems.
About the author
Sabine Urban ist Professorin an der Université Robert Schuman und Leiterin des Centre d'Etude des Sciences Appliquées à la Gestion/IECS in Straßburg.
