A European layer of social insurance is increasingly necessary.
Fair pay for truck drivers
The Conference on the Future of Europe needs to hold out a prospect of a single market that works for its mobile workers.
A chance for a social future
Can the Conference on the Future of Europe be a turning point from a mere economic union to one of social rights?
How can the EU achieve a fair distribution of the tax burden?
Falling corporate taxation has been matched by a rising contribution from labour. But there are ways to redress the balance between citizens and companies.
Material concerns about posting of workers
Legal arguments over the EU posting of workers directive raise the issue of which is to prevail: workers’ rights or unregulated markets?
Welcome to GAFA land—where the winner takes it all
The Big Tech platforms have established monopolies which disempower their competitors as well as their workers. EU competition law can be used by unions seeking to bring them to heel.
The Celtic Tiger leaves Irish workers scarred
Workers in Ireland are still bearing the brunt after the Celtic Tiger’s demise—but with a modest gain against the precarisation of work.
The European Hydra: Wages And Social Dumping – Competition Law As A Way Out
Fighting against transnational social dumping can best be compared to Heracles’ struggle against the Hydra of Lerna – the multi-headed serpent in Greek mythology. This struggle is highly uneven because every time a head is cut off, the monster regenerates two new ones to replace it. Similarly, when trade unions succeed in revealing a case […]
The New EU Budget Under The Constraints Of Brexit And The Debt Brake
The UK’s exit from the EU means a contributions gap of an estimated €10-14 billion per year, around 7 percent of the EU Budget. Thereby, the discussion about the multi-annual financial framework has already set off in one direction: How do we fill the gap rather than how do we reform the budget? At the […]
The Future Of Europe – A Space For The Social Policy Avant-Garde
On March 1 2017, the European Commission set out a White Paper on the Future of Europe. There was none of the fierce debate that might have been expected after the UK’s Brexit vote and application to leave: the European Union simply remained trapped in its daily routine. Brexit negotiations, the row about refugee quotas […]