This policy brief examines the development of and background to the 2018 Posting of Workers Directive. Arguably, the new Directive illustrates the uneasy development of a European social dimension and marks a sea-change to the previous approach, which can be attributed to a change of preferences in... Find out more

This policy brief assesses the presence and the relationships brokered by trade union confederations through their online channels, in order to, first, find out who they are engaging with and, second, to consider whether these virtual connections have any implications for the wider discussion about... Find out more

This Policy Brief examines implications of the EU’s targets for reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for labour markets. The brief argues that, given the enormous challenges, an equitable transition to a zero-carbon economy should be given higher priority and a clear allotment of EU... Find out more

‘Whoever becomes the ruler of AI will become the ruler of the world,’ said Vladimir Putin in September 2017. The USA, Russia and China are all adamant that artificial intelligence (AI) will be the key technology underpinning their national power in the future. What place, then, is there for Europe... Find out more

Are we currently living through a new industrial and technological revolution? Does it differ qualitatively from similar revolutions in the past? How can we gauge its political implications? Researchers working within the school of evolutionary economics, in particular those who embrace the concept... Find out more

Tax avoidance by corporations is widespread in Europe and costs governments more than €70bn annually. This revenue loss, and the legal ramifications of strategies that multinational companies use to avoid paying taxes, starves public services of funding, limits the bargaining power of trade unions... Find out more

The 2017 revised Shareholder Rights Directive gives shareholders a say on executive pay and requires institutional investors to improve shareholder engagement. The directive is thus designed to provide a counterweight to the increasingly dominant ‘shareholder’ model of corporate governance which has... Find out more

This policy brief examines the effectiveness of policies which aim to dismiss labour market institutions, in the name of competitiveness, across the European Union (EU). It also assesses the evidence which supports a positive relationship between deregulation and decentralization and productivity... Find out more

Although there is little argument about the fact that climate change and the digitalisation of the economy are the two main trends that will matter most over the coming decades, to date they have predominantly been considered separately rather than together. The first step towards shaping our future... Find out more

This policy brief examines how the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) can be used to strengthen the social dimension of the EU. For the EPSR to matter, the relevant actors should strongly commit themselves to its principles, ideally through a legally binding mechanism. Starting from the premise... Find out more