Role of the social partners in the European Semester

This report explores the involvement of peak social partners in the European Semester at EU and national level during the period 2011 to 2014. While their role in the European Semester is not set out in the European economic governance provisions (the so-called ‘Six-Pack’), the European institutional bodies view the two sides of industry as being key to the development of the Semester, and have called for their closer involvement. This report assesses the degree to which the social partners are involved in the different stages of the European Semester procedure on matters regarding employment and social policy issues and how their involvement could be enhanced. At the same time, it examines the role played by the European Commission and the national governments in communicating the country-specific recommendations. The study also looks at the views of the social partners themselves. The report was compiled on the basis of desk research and individual national reports submitted by Eurofound’s network of European correspondents covering all 28 EU Member States.