EU labour market policy: Difficult balance between subsidiarity and centralisation

EU labour market policy: Difficult balance between subsidiarity and centralisation
Labour market and employment policy, now a core area of EU policy, aims at comprehensive employment promotion with its landmark “flexicurity” model. The basic approach, enhancing workers’ employability instead of trying to protect employment relationships, delivers suitable responses to the faster pace of structural change. However, the European Employment Strategy has given a rather mixed performance. The heterogeneity of national labour law, labour markets and social systems within the EU poses a problem for companies operating there. In the complex regulatory environment of the EU labour markets businesses might therefore benefit from an optional European Labour Contract as a quasi 28th labour market regime.