4 research outputs found
The posted workers regime in the EU
No full textnicht angegebenOn March 8, 2016 the European Commission, proposed review of the Posted Workers Directive 1996 (PWD), which regulates people employed in one member state, but are sent to temporarily work in another. The proposal is aimed at revising the rules on posting of workers set out by the PWD that was followed by an enforcement directive in 2014, in order to facilitate the provision of goods and services across borders of the EU Member States. However, given that the 2014 Enforcement directive has not yet entered fully into force and that the proposed rules are met with mixed responses from the EU Member States, this thesis analyzes whether such reform is necessary.
The rulings of the ECJ in the “Laval quartet” has fundamentally disrupted the balance between economic and social rights in respect of posted workers. The Court essentially deprived the 1996 PWD of its effect. This lead to chaos in some MS, where the detrimental effect of ECJ’s judgments was strongly felt. In order to address the situation, the EU adopted the Posted Workers Enforcement Directive, which seeks to combat social dumping and unfair competition by administrative means. Even though it had just recently entered into force in all MS, the PWE is likely not to achieve its goals at it fails to address key issues pertaining to posted workers and social dumping.
Therefore, a reform is necessary and Commission has sought to adopt a revision of the original Posted Workers Directive. However, the 2016 proposal was met with harsh criticism from virtually all stakeholders. The potential reforms aims to address the situation after the “Lava quartet” by introducing an equal pay for equal work principle, rules on temporary work agencies and rules applying to long-term posting. The thesis concludes that this effort on part of the Commission is likely not going to be sufficient and a new approach is necessary. The author recommends withdrawal of the current proposal and launching a dialogue with all stakeholders in order to strike a compromise, taking into account everyone’s concerns. In addition, the author recommends establishing a unique EU registration number, in order to avoid falsification of A1 forms
Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte in confrontation mood : simultaneous geographical and host spectrum expansion in southeastern Slovenia
No full textDiabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, in its original North American habitat also known as western corn rootworm beetle, actively continues its expansion to new territories and uses Homo sapiens as its prime vector. It took only 15 years to spread to and occupy the southeastern and central parts of Europe, so far with the exception of Denmark where it has not been documented as of 2007. Economic thresholds have been reached and surpassed only in Southeast European countries like Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Eastern Croatia, Romania and Northern Italy. But both, the area affected and the severity of symptoms are increasing. Model calculations by a number of authors (Baufeld & Enzian, 2005 a and b; Hongmei Li & al. 2006, CLIMEX model) indicate a definitive propensity of D. v. virgifera to expand its currently occupied territory to regions with moderate temperatures and Zea mays cultivation. East Africa and Eastern Asia are included in the list of potential candidates for future inadvertent introduction. In most discussions it is tacitly and erroneously assumed that Z. mays is the only or the only important host of D. v. virgifera. Our recent observations in Eastern Slovenia on the oil pumpkin Cucurbita pepo indicate, however, that this simplifying assumption is notlonger strictly valid. It has to be modified in light of new evidence. Here, we report a few field experiments conducted in August of 2006 clarifying the host status of C. pepo in a European country.Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chysomelidae), im deutschsprachigen Raum als Westlicher Maiswurzelbohrer bekannt, ist ein von der Neuen Welt nach Europa eingeschleppter Schädling. Er gelangte in mindestens drei Einwanderungsschüben, die durch molekulargenetische Untersuchungen unterscheidbar sind, nach Europa. Innerhalb der letzten eineinhalb Jahrzehnte wurde, mit Ausnahme von Dänemark, die gesamte Fläche Südost- und Zentraleuropas vom Käfer besiedelt. In mehreren osteuropäischen Ländern ist die ökonomische Schadensschwelle bereits überschritten. Bis 2006 galt Zea mays als einzige bekannte europäische Wirtspflanze. Allerdings deuten neueste Beobachtungen in Ostslowenien vom August 2006 auf kleine Zahlen von Käfern am Ölkürbis Cucurbita pepo und damit auf eine Ausdehnung des Wirtsspektrums von D. v. virgifera hin. Der Käfer tritt in kleinen Zahlen als Besucher von Ölkürbisblüten mit einer Häufigkeit von 0,1 % auf. Er ist aber auch in geringer Häufigkeit in Kairomon- und Pheromonfallen in Ölkürbisfeldern südlich von Gaberje in Ostslowenien anzutreffen. Dieses Ergebnis stellt den zukünftigen Wert des Fruchtwechsels in Frage, der bisher als eine der wirksamsten und nachhaltigsten Methoden des integrierten Pflanzenschutzes galt
High-order harmonic generation from ions in a capillary discharge
No full textWe demonstrate a significant extension of the high-order harmonic cutoff by using a fully-ionized capillary discharge plasma as the generation medium. The preionized plasma dramatically reduces ionization-induced defocusing and energy loss of the driving laser due to ionization. This allows for significantly higher photon energies, up to 150 eV, to be generated from xenon ions, compared with the70 eV observed previously. We also demonstrate enhancement of the harmonic flux of nearly 2 orders of magnitude at photon energies around 90 eV when the capillary discharge is used to ionize xenon, compared with harmonic generation in a hollow waveguide. The use of a plasma as a medium for high-order harmonic generation shows great promise for extending efficient harmonic generation to much shorter wavelengths using ions
Enhanced high-order harmonic generation from Xe, Kr, and Ar in a capillary discharge
No full textWe report the use of a preionized medium created by a capillary discharge to extend the cutoff photon energy in high-order harmonic generation. The observed enhancements result from a combination of reduced ionization energy loss and reduced ionization-induced defocusing of the driving laser. We observe harmonic emission from Xe up to a photon energy of 160 eV, and we extend this technique to other noble gases, observing photons with energies up to 170 eV from Kr and 275 eV from Ar. The discharge plasma also provides a means to spectrally tune the harmonics by tailoring the initial level of ionization of the medium. Our results are interpreted using a hydrodynamic-atomic physics model of the discharge plasma. This work demonstrates that capillary discharges are a versatile and general method for generating harmonics, in particular from ions. Finally, this approach should be scalable to efficiently generate coherent light at much shorter wavelengths, in combination with phase-matching techniques
