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"As Europe grapples with geopolitical upheavals, economic shifts and the urgency of a just, green transition, the future of strong social policies at EU level may seem uncertain. How can the EU balance security and competitiveness without compromising its social and just transition commitments? What lessons can be learned from the successes and setbacks of the von der Leyen I Commission? How will the new economic governance framework affect Social Europe? These are the key questions that guide Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2024.

With the EU entering a new political cycle under the von der Leyen II Commission, concerns are mounting over whether Social Europe can withstand the growing dominance of competitiveness and security imperatives. While significant steps have been taken in the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the shift toward competitiveness as the EU's primary objective raises doubts over the future of social progress. Moreover, while the frugal nature of the Stability and Growth Pact underpinning the common currency has been somewhat alleviated by a reform of its preventive arm, fiscal consolidation remains a significant policy steamroller. This book assesses key developments such as the Platform Work Directive, advances in pay transparency, and the EU's evolving approach to just transition, while critically examining the changing role of social policy.

The new Commission's focus on skills, training, and quality reflects a broader transformation of the EU's social agenda — one that emphasizes investment in human capital as a means to drive competitiveness. Yet, as this volume highlights, this ‘social investment' approach risks neglecting the buffer function of welfare states: the essential role of social protection in shielding citizens from economic shocks and inequality. In turn, this raises a fundamental question: will Social Europe continue its momentum, or will it be sidelined by the EU's evolving priorities? With rising geopolitical tensions and pressures for increased security spending, the risk of social investment being crowded out is real. The policy shifts documented in this book invite reflection on whether the EU's ‘social turn' of recent years can be sustained — or whether a new paradigm is emerging, one in which social rights must compete for relevance in an era defined by competitiveness and security challenges."

"This paper provides an account of the future evolution of two labour market indicators – the employment rate and the unemployment rate – based on forecast growth of GDP and the working-age population, as well as trends related to sectoral productivity growth and participation rates. Given the resulting scenarios, the EU and its Member States generally face increasing employment rates and decreasing unemployment rates, thus continuing the general trend observable in recent years. The results also show, however, that the demographic pressures manifested in a decline in the working age population in many countries may imply unsustainable development leading to severe labour shortages in some countries, as indicated by very low unemployment rates at already high participation rates among their working age populations. As a result of severe macroeconomic labour shortages, some countries could face either lower growth, a strong need for higher productivity growth, or more inward migration. As already mentioned, in these countries, industries with higher than expected labour demand growth (mostly service industries) will suffer relatively more from the shortages. Thus, the results reported here suggest that, given looming demographic pressures, most EU economies may face severe challenges in both the medium and longer terms with regard to growth and welfare."

"Key points
• The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the case for the annulment of Directive (EU) 2022/2041 on Adequate Minimum Wages, filed by Denmark and later joined by Sweden, is expected during May 2025. In the meantime, the Advocate General has issued an opinion concluding that the Directive should be annulled due to its incompatibility with Article 153(5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), specifically regarding the exclusion of competence over ‘pay'.
• The Advocate General's opinion is primarily based on a rather literal reading of the Directive's text and Article 153 TFEU: such a restrictive reading does not align with the objectives pursued by the Directive within the framework of the Union's social policy goals. Had these objectives been properly considered, the Advocate General would have recognised that the Directive does not interfere with the scope of the pay exclusion. This is even more so in the light of the CJEU's own case law.
• The additional arguments put forward in the Danish case – claiming incompatibility with the further exclusion of competence regarding the right of association and arguing that the Directive should not have been adopted on the basis of Article 153(1)(b) – are also deemed unfounded. This has been acknowledged by the Advocate General.
• Should the Court uphold Denmark's case and the Advocate General's opinion, this decision would not only mark a break from the Court's previous stance but could also have repercussions on the future of the EU social policy agenda."

"El cambio climático plantea desafíos que impactan directamente en los sistemas de Seguridad Social. Este libro aborda cómo adaptar estas estructuras frente a riesgos climáticos, explorando su relación con los derechos humanos.
Se analiza la normativa internacional, europea y española, destacando cuestiones como accidentes laborales relacionados con factores climáticos, la fragmentación del sistema de desempleo y sus impactos en sectores vulnerables.
Con enfoque en la sostenibilidad y la igualdad, se ofrecen propuestas para actualizar el sistema de Seguridad Social, garantizando una protección más inclusiva y eficaz frente al cambio climático."

"En Europe, les ordres juridiques nationaux abordent les droits sociaux comme les « parents pauvres » des droits civils et politiques. En effet, contrairement à ce qui se produit pour ceux appartenant à la première génération des droits humains, la protection juridictionnelle des droits sociaux se heurte à des obstacles inhérents à leur nature et à leur formulation. Organe transnational d'application de la Charte sociale européenne (CSE), le Comité européen des droits sociaux (CEDS) s'engage précisément à introduire une rupture dans cet état des choses. Par le biais des organisations de la société civile (ONG, syndicats), les particuliers disposent de l'outil que sont les réclamations collectives introduites contre l'État, s'ils estiment que celui-ci enfreint les engagements qu'il a pris en tant que partie à la CSE. Grâce à la jurisprudence qu'il a élaborée, le CEDS fait de la Charte non seulement un instrument vivant, susceptible d'assurer l'autonomie de l'individu dans le domaine social, mais également un moyen qui permet aux États de prendre des décisions politiquement légitimes en matière de politique sociale et de relations du travail.
L'ouvrage offre au lecteur la possibilité de découvrir l'organisation et le fonctionnement du CEDS par le biais de la procédure des réclamations collectives. Au moyen de la jurisprudence élaborée par le Comité, il examine le rôle réservé au juge national lors de l'application de la Charte. Il présente de façon détaillée les principaux outils d'interprétation de la Charte que le Comité utilise. Il explore comment le contenu normatif des droits sociaux garantis par la Charte est enrichi en y introduisant des éléments du droit des droits de l'homme, d'une part, et du droit de l'Union européenne, d'autre part.
Ce livre s'adresse aux avocats et aux juges qui se spécialisent dans la protection des droits sociaux en tant que droits de l'homme, ainsi qu'à quiconque souhaite approfondir l'étude du régime conventionnel européen de protection des droits sociaux."

"This report provides a broad description of the adoption of generative AI (or GenAI) within the European public sector. It focuses on (i) guidelines and policies adopted within administrations to regulate the use of this emerging technology; and (ii) the multiple applications and use cases found in the Public Sector Tech Watch observatory. The public sector is quickly adopting GenAI solutions, but administrations are facing daily challenges related to implementation processes and effective public-private collaborations. Administrations are also facing other challenges in their regulatory eff o r t s , primarily centred around human oversight; accountability; the importance of data protection; and governance, safety, fairness and transparency."

"The revision of the Posting of Workers Directive (PWD) was welcomed as an important step towards a more Social Europe. In this article, we examine how EU member states (MS) implemented the revised directive. We focus on those parts of the directive that should enable MS to reverse previous negative integration by the European Court of Justice. Despite the initial enthusiasm, the revision has led to only minor changes in national labour law. We ask why MS that actively pushed for the revision did not exploit the new regulatory possibilities further. In addition to presenting comparative data on national implementation, we conduct in-depth case studies of countries that supported the revision at the EU level (Denmark, Finland, Germany). Disagreements between employers and trade unions, partisan effects, and institutional misfit between the PWD and national wage-settingsystems explain the limited impact of the revision in these MS. The revision of the PWD shows how difficult it is to politically counteract the market-making impetus of European single market law."

"This paper empirically tests whether populists in power or economic wellbeing influence civil society and civic culture. It conceptualizes civic culture broadly by focusing on citizen mobilization and evaluation of both national and supranational political institutions. The longer populists hold government positions, the stronger their control over civil society organizations, affecting participation in civil society initiatives. However, a higher GDP per capita is associated with increased participation in civic society initiatives. Both the duration of populist rule and economic factors shape civic culture across Central and Eastern Europe. On the country level, the length of governance under populist elites correlates with a decrease in individual social connectedness, growing dissatisfaction with democracy, and diminished interest in politics. Country-level economic development correlates with higher levels of institutional trust, social trust, social connectedness, and satisfaction with democracy but negatively with trust in the European Union, election turnout, interest in politics, and participation in trade unions. Higher levels of civic culture are most consistently driven by one's income at individual level. Citizens appear to be evolving into allegiant citizens—those who maintain some level of trust in governmental institutions also support the principles and practices of democracy and exhibit a general increase in apathy toward politics. Evidence from the European Social Survey and the V-Dem database supports these conclusions."

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