This Working Paper on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) highlights the controversial benefits of speeding up free trade and puts the negotiations between the EU and the US in the context of the fall-out of the financial crisis. It looks at the contentious issues of public... Find out more

The European Commission has time and again promoted intra-EU labour mobility as a major contributor to the better functioning of European labour markets. On the other hand, concerns about increasing labour mobility are mounting in a number of member states and populist parties are trying to... Find out more

This Background Analysis examines the vast enterprise of tax avoidance and evasion and sets out a summary of some of the major tax avoidance schemes. It analyses what is being done to curb both of these – evasion and avoidance – and concludes by making 20 concrete recommendations for further action... Find out more

This Background Analysis examines the concept of tax shifting and makes a critical assessment as to what 'tax shifting' aims to achieve. It also sets out what a good tax system might look like and provides an overview of the development of both tax rates and tax revenues for the past decades.The... Find out more

This working paper maps out developments of industrial relations in Central-Eastern Europe (CEE) during the period 2008-2014. It looks at wage trends and public sector austerity measures, collective bargaining practices, social dialogue performance and the incidence of strikes and protests.The paper... Find out more

This working paper looks at recent structural reforms of the Spanish labour market and evaluates them against the government’s stated objectives to reduce unemployment.It concludes that the labour market flexibilisation approach has not helped to reduce unemployment, nor has it contributed to the... Find out more

This Working Paper aims to shed light on the machinations behind recent developments regarding the Better Regulation agenda. How should we interpret the Commission’s insistence on relentlessly attacking its own legislation? Why does it constantly refer to the costs, yet never once mention the... Find out more

While the European intersectoral social dialogue has been, according to the Commission’s own admission, dragging its feet for the last few years on account of a lack of commitment on the part of the private sector employers, the sectoral social dialogue is often presented as a more dynamic and... Find out more

This report looks at the impact of the crisis on health care reform patterns in ten EU countries (France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and the UK-England). It assesses the changing allocation of responsibilities for regulation, financing, and provision... Find out more

This working paper reviews the findings of the most prominent studies on the economic impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), focussing on those commissioned by the European Commission and by the German government. It casts doubt on the methods used and concludes that... Find out more