The notion of a European social model assumes that European societies have certain features in common which distinguish them positively from the United States, among them most notably the social partnership in labour relations, redistributive welfare state schemes, and cohesive societies with a...

This paper analyses the potential effects of the open method of co-ordination on pension reforms in the European Union from an economic point of view. The main results are: (1) For the first time, the Commission formally participates in the input of pension policy-formation of the member states,...

This Working Paper analyses the development of the interpretation that the European Commission has given to the TFEU provision concerning mechanisms for extensions of collective agreements. The paper examines how the Commission has reinterpreted these provision and the challenges this poses for...

Institutional change is guided by rules. In the European Union these rules are given by Art. 250-252 of the Treaty of Amsterdam. These articles define the actors and rules that bring about changes in policies in the European Union. We analyze these articles as games in extensive form and...

European social policy has two central dimensions: the relation between liberalized market freedoms and social protection, on the one hand, and the distribution of regulatory competencies between the supranational and the national level on the other. The posted workers issue, i.e. the question...