Social partners
‘Social partners’ is a term generally used in Europe to refer to representatives of management and labour (employer organisations and trade unions), and in some contexts public authorities, that engage in social dialogue. The term ‘European social partners’ specifically refers to those organisations at EU level which are engaged in European social dialogue, provided for under Articles 154 and 155 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The social partners play a key role in the governance of the employment relationship, and are key actors in industrial relation systems. In most EU Member States, they shape working conditions and influence social policy, either through collective bargaining or tripartite social dialogue. They are interlocking parts in a multilevel system of governance that includes the European, national, sectoral, regional (provincial or local), company and establishment levels.
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Representativeness of the European social partner organisations: Agriculture sector – 2026
This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the organisations involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the agriculture sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted and their capacity to negotiate agreements. The aim of Eurofound’s studies on representativeness is to identify the relevant national and European social partner organisations in the sector. This study identifies the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT), representing employees, and the Employers’ Group of Professional Agricultural Organisations in the European Union / Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations in the European Union (GEOPA-COPA), representing employers, as the most representative European-level social partner organisations in the agriculture sector.
Involvement of employer organisations and trade unions in the European Semester in 2024–2025
This report examines the role of trade unions and employers’ organisations in shaping the medium-term fiscal structural plans and the 2025 annual progress reports. It analyses social partners’ involvement at national level with governments, as well as their engagement with the European Commission in fact-finding missions, country reports and country-specific recommendations, and assesses their participation in the broader European semester, including the new social convergence framework.Representativeness of the European social partner organisations: Personal services sector – 2026
This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the personal services sector.Eurofound investigates and reports on developments concerning the social partners, and research examines how they have responded in the EU Member States and Norway to the many new political, legal and social challenges that have arisen in recent years.
The TFEU recognises and promotes the role of the social partners at EU level and documents the EU’s commitment to facilitate dialogue between the social partners, respecting their autonomy. This recognition is illustrated by the adoption of the multiannual work programmes of the social partners. In these programmes, the social partners themselves set their priorities and negotiation agenda and decide on the appropriate instruments for social dialogue.
Over the years, there has been increased recognition of the role of the EU-level social partners by the European institutions. This is reflected, for example, in the establishment of an annual tripartite social summit between the European Council, the European Commission and the social partners, enabling the latter to contribute, in the context of their social dialogue, to the various components of the economic and social governance of the EU. The main cross-industry organisations representing the social partners at EU level are:
the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)
the Confederation of European Business (BusinessEurope)
the Association of Crafts and SMEs in Europe (SMEunited, formerly UEAPME)
the European Centre of Employers and Enterprises providing Public Services and Services of General Interest (CEEP)
The social partners play a prominent role in shaping EU social legislation. The Commission must consult the social partners before submitting proposals in the social policy field through a compulsory two-stage consultation procedure (Artilce 154 TFEU). Moreover, social partners can negotiate agreements that can be implemented either autonomously according to national practices, or be implemented at their request at EU level through a Council decision (Article 155 TFEU). To this extent, social partner agreements implemented at EU level have played a significant role in developing the EU social acquis.
In addition, the European institutional bodies view the two sides of industry as being key to the development of the European Semester, the cycle of economic and fiscal policy coordination within the EU. While the role of the social partners in the Semester is not clearly set out in the legislative framework, their participation has been recognised and strengthened in Regulation 1175/2011 on the surveillance of budgetary positions and the surveillance and coordination of economic policies. The revamped European Semester, initiated in 2015, allows more time for dialogue and greater involvement of the social partners at all levels. In March 2025, the Commission and the cross-industry social partners signed a joint Pact on strengthening European social dialogue. This builds on the 2024 Val Duchesse Social Partner Declaration.
European Commission: Commission and social partners sign joint Pact to strengthen social dialogue in Europeopens in new tab
European Commission: The European Semesteropens in new tab
European Commission: Consultations of the social partnersopens in new tab
BusinessEurope: European social dialogue – Work programme 2022–2024opens in new tab
This is a selection of the most important outputs for this topic.
31 March 2025
National-level social governance of the European Semester and the Recovery and Resilience Facility
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is integrated into the European Semester framework for economic and social policy coordination. It is the cornerstone of the NextGenerationEU package and provides funds to Member States for the implementation of the reforms and investments in their recovery and resilience plans until the end of 2026.
This report looks at the extent and quality of social partner involvement in the European Semester and in the RRF. It examines the question of how the social partners have been involved in the design and implementation of national recovery and resilience plans and how satisfied they have been with this involvement. It also aims to identify general trends in the implementation of the national plans, with a particular focus on measures in the social policy field. The involvement of the social partners came to the fore with the adoption of a new economic governance framework in April 2024, which introduced national medium-term fiscal-structural plans on which the social partners need to be consulted.
19 July 2023
Supporting regions in the just transition: Role of social partners
This report investigates the involvement of social partners in the just transition to a climate-neutral economy, with a particular focus on the territorial just transition plans. These plans aim to support the regions most negatively affected by the just transition by assisting workers to retrain, relocate and find other jobs, and also support industries that need to phase out fossil fuels or other greenhouse gas-intensive activities. The role and input of the social partners in these plans and their views on the just transition are explored. An analysis of social dialogue practices and examples of collective agreements shows the range of topics covered by the social partners. The report also investigates the role of the energy crisis in the just transition and how it has contributed to delays in the implementation of territorial just transition plans in certain Member States.
10 December 2021
Social partners going digital: Using digital tools and adapting social dialogue processes
Digital transformation is changing the world of work. This report looks at how social partners – the actors involved in the regulation of employment relationships – are increasingly adopting technological solutions to improve the services that they provide to their members and facilitate collective bargaining processes. Technological tools offer social partners the opportunity to enhance consultation, engage with their members through digitised processes, improve services and increase networking activities, as well as addressing the issue of membership decline. The findings of this report show that the extent to which the social partners use digital technologies varies greatly across the EU Member States, Norway and the United Kingdom. Provisions in collective agreements on several aspects of digitalisation have been identified in about half of the countries. Through these provisions, social partners encourage their members to boost training on digital skills, ensure fair and safe working conditions and take account of data protection and employee monitoring practices. The European social partners’ autonomous framework agreement on digitalisation has provided inspiration to national-level organisations, and follow-up actions in this regard have the potential to greatly benefit their members.
9 March 2021
Involvement of social partners in policymaking during the COVID-19 outbreak
Since 2016, Eurofound has closely monitored the involvement of national social partners in policymaking as part of the European Semester cycle. In 2020, the focus was on their involvement during the first months of the COVID-19 outbreak. While the pandemic has presented a huge challenge to social dialogue, the results of the analysis highlight how social dialogue can be an effective tool in shaping policy initiatives and finding solutions to emergency situations affecting businesses, workers, the economy and society. It is clear that the participation of social partners in the design and implementation of national recovery and resilience plans in 2021 will be key in the recovery process and for strengthening social dialogue going forward.
30 August 2020
Role of social partners in tackling discrimination at work
This report assesses the role of the social partners in tackling workplace discrimination. Against the background of EU and national anti-discrimination legislation, it highlights the extent to which the need to tackle discrimination on different grounds is on the radar of cross-sectoral social partners. It also provides an overview of the measures taken to deal with the persistent incidence of discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, race or ethnic origin, religion or belief, and sexual orientation or gender identity.
24 June 2020
COVID-19: Policy responses across Europe
The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of individuals and societies, including on the economy and labour markets, is unprecedented. The impact of the global health emergency has placed a growing number of businesses under threat, putting the jobs of more and more workers at risk and impacting the livelihoods of many citizens. Policymakers moved swiftly in an effort to mitigate the social and economic effects on businesses, workers and citizens. Eurofound’s COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch database provides information on initiatives introduced to cushion these effects. Drawing on the content of this database of around 500 policy initiatives (April 2020), this report aims to present an overview of both large-scale government measures and collective agreements that impact on large groups of workers, setting this in the context of the evolving labour market situation.
Data: COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch
10 September 2020
Capacity building for effective social dialogue in the European Union
The aim of this report is to add to the discussion on how Eurofound can contribute to supporting capacity building of social partners for effective social dialogue. The report includes a review by Eurofound aimed at identifying the capacity-building needs and initiatives of social partners in relation to national frameworks for autonomous collective bargaining, involvement in European social dialogue and the European Semester, and the development of membership and services for members. It also includes the results from stakeholder consultations and two exchange seminars held in 2019, along with a set of policy pointers for further discussion.
6 December 2019
European sectoral social dialogue: Facts and figures
European sectoral social dialogue plays an important role in promoting dialogue between the social partners in industrial sectors at European level. There are currently 43 European sectoral social dialogue committees that bring together the social partners from the EU Member States – representatives of trade unions and employer organisations – to engage in dialogue on behalf of specific sectors. This research report provides facts and figures on sectoral diversity, social partner organisations, and representativeness at EU, Member State and sectoral levels.
Researchers at Eurofound provide expert insights and can be contacted for questions or media requests.
Peter Kerckhofs
Senior research managerPeter Kerckhofs is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. His work focuses on the role of social partners in the European Semester and also on national reporting on industrial relations developments. Peter has a wide expertise in developing the methodology for representativeness studies, applying European and national representativeness criteria in the specific context of different sectors, while also accumulating an in-depth knowledge of the industrial relations landscape in various sectors. Peter has also worked on projects related to European Works Councils and European Sectoral Social Dialogue. Before joining Eurofound, he worked as a researcher for ETUI and UCL, as a political secretary for EMCEF and was scientific coordinator of the PhD School of the social sciences faculty of KU Leuven. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and a Master’s degree in Political Science from KU Leuven and one in International Relations from UCL, and has a PhD in Industrial Relations from the University of Manchester.
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