National social partners and policymaking

With the arrival of the month of May, the 2022 European Semester Spring Package is anticipated soon. After a transformative year in 2021, which saw the launch of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) under NextGenerationEU, the European Semester cycle has resumed its role as the reference framework for EU economic and employment policy coordination. The RRF, underpinned by the national recovery and resilience plans (RRPs), is the engine driving the investment and reforms needed to successfully transition to a greener and more digital society. Involving the social partners in this process can help put us on the right path.

In dit verslag wordt de kwaliteit van de betrokkenheid van de nationale sociale partners bij het ontwerpen en uitvoeren van hervormingen en beleidsmaatregelen in het kader van het Europees Semester en bij de voorbereiding van de nationale hervormingsprogramma’s onderzocht. In het kader van NextGenerationEU hebben de lidstaten in 2021 herstel- en veerkrachtplannen opgesteld en ingediend, met als doel de Europese economieën en samenlevingen duurzamer en veerkrachtiger te maken en beter op de uitdagingen en kansen van de groene en de digitale transitie voor te bereiden.

Eurofound volgt sinds 2016 de betrokkenheid van nationale sociale partners bij de beleidsvorming in het kader van de cyclus van het Europees Semester op de voet. In 2020 lag de nadruk op hun betrokkenheid tijdens de eerste maanden van de COVID-19-uitbraak. Hoewel de pandemie een enorme uitdaging voor de sociale dialoog vormt, blijkt uit de resultaten van de analyse hoe de sociale dialoog een doeltreffend instrument kan zijn bij het vormgeven van beleidsinitiatieven en het vinden van oplossingen voor noodsituaties die bedrijven, werknemers, de economie en de samenleving treffen.

This report investigates the quality of the national social partners’ involvement in designing and implementing reforms and policies in the context of the European Semester 2018–2019 and in the elaboration of the National Reform Programmes. As previously reported by Eurofound, there is a positive correlation between the strength of the national social dialogue and the involvement of the social partners in policymaking.

This report investigates the involvement of the national social partners in the design and implementation of reforms and policies in the context of the European Semester and countryspecific recommendations 2017–2018. In line with previous reports on the same theme, it also analyses the quality of the involvement of the social partners in elaborating the National Reform Programmes.

The latest European Semester cycle, covering the period 2016–2017, has highlighted a range of issues regarding the quality of involvement by the social partners in the elaboration of the 2017 National Reform Programme (NRP), as well as in the implementation of the country-specific recommendations (CSRs). This report looks at the different social dialogue practices across Member States and at the role played by the national authorities in enabling the involvement of employer organisations and trade unions in policy reforms.

This report provides an update on the role of national social partners in the European Semester process over the period 2015–2016, describing the main developments and changes compared with a previous Eurofound study on their involvement during the period 2011–2014.

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.