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

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