Country chapters: Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Sweden The Covid‑19 pandemic severely affected some categories of non-standard workers, and particularly the self‑employed. The emergency measures cushioned the potentially disastrous effect on their social... Find out more

This book focuses on the role of industrial relations structures and related actors in terms of how far they remain relevant in addressing and facilitating the return to work of individuals following chronic illness. While the demographic transition and the transformation of labour markets call for... Find out more

The EU-UK TCA goes beyond the diluted, and at times tokenistic, protection of multilateral labour standards contained in the other FTAs concluded by the EU, e.g. with countries like Canada or South Korea. However, the few additional labour clauses it contains, and the overall weak supervision and... Find out more

The lockdown and other restrictive measures introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic recession have had a strong impact on labour markets worldwide. As far as the European Union (EU) is concerned, the accelerated fall in total employment was the ‘sharpest decline ever... Find out more

Policy recommendations The Covid-19 pandemic has affected women disproportionately and is likely to have adverse effects on gender equality. It is essential that efforts to promote gender equality be increased in order to ensure that hard-won progress in this area is not reversed. As part of this... Find out more

The Rana Plaza tragedy demonstrated the need to regulate companies which use subsidiaries, subcontractors and suppliers to carry out underpaid work, without consideration for core humanitarian principles, including trade union and workers’ rights. Structures permitting companies to profit from such... Find out more

All chapters of Social policy in the EU: state of play 2020 consider the consequences of the unfolding public health crisis. Covid‑19’s hijacking of the book had important implications for the contributors, whom we asked not only to analyse key developments in the EU social agenda during 2019 but... Find out more

In 2020, country-specific recommendations (CSRs) have shifted more markedly in favour of strengthening workers' digital skills and providing adequate social protection. This change of focus has conferred a rather social outlook to the 2020 European Semester cycle. For the first time since the launch... Find out more

The European project is in crisis. The Brexit vote in the United Kingdom is a spectacular symptom of this. However, since the 1957 Treaty of Rome, the close integration of the Member States has always been a priority of the European Union. An economic integration was often promoted at the expense of... Find out more

This collected volume aims to inform and advance the debate on how to achieve a more social and sustainable Europe. Its four chapters and a conclusion address the nature of Europe, the future of the European Union and the political and economic development of the continent. The book argues that... Find out more