This paper discusses the European Parliament’s Resolution of 16 February 2017 with recommendations to the Commission on Civil Law Rules on Robotics (European Parliament 2017). It provides a brief summary of the content of the Resolution and looks at its basic principles and raison d’être. It also... Find out more

This Policy Brief provides information about the recently established ‘EU Observatory for Nanomaterials’, how it is being developed, its limitations and why it is not an ideal option. It suggests a different monitoring scenario, based on rules which would ensure transparency, improve the ability of... Find out more

This policy brief discusses the implications for labour and trade unions of new forms of work that are organised via distributed digital networks using the internet.The authors focus on what has been called ‘commons-based peer production’ but also address the more controversial case of ‘platform... Find out more

This policy brief criticizes the European Economic Governance system for being too narrowly focused on economic growth and competitiveness.Starting from the 2009 report by the Commission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress (Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi), the brief proposes a new... Find out more

This policy brief takes as its starting point the fact that as soon as a company engages in European-level transnational restructuring, transnational information and consultation is needed to enable the social partners to consider the cross-border dynamic of the planned measures.This policy brief... Find out more

For better or worse, the digitalisation of the economy has become an unavoidable theme in political and social debates. This new industrial revolution is predicted to disrupt the processes of production, the world of work and society at large. How can we prepare for this and how can we anticipate... Find out more

This policy brief analyses Ireland's economic recovery and concludes that the narrative about fiscal austerity and internal devaluation producing an Irish growth miracle is simplistic and misleading. The author proves that the Irish economy's strong growth performance since mid-2014 can be... Find out more

This policy brief looks at how effective worker participation can make digitalisation a programme for success for companies and employees alike. The author provides a great number of good examples of negotiated solutions on the company level. Find out more

This policy brief considers the impact of online platforms on labour markets and on the employment relationship in particular. It discusses the importance of outsourcing platforms, arguing that the ‘collaborative economy’ used by the European Commission (EC) is a misleading concept, as the trend is... Find out more

Although union densities have fallen markedly almost everywhere in Europe over recent decades, many European countries still have particularly high and stable levels of binding collective bargaining coverage. The main reason is State support for collective bargaining systems. A central feature of... Find out more