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The Cooperation of the European Union with Employer and Labor Associations

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Abstract

The cooperation of labor and employer associations with the European Union (EU) has evolved in several stages, leading to an increasing differentiation and variety of interaction modes and policy outputs. This chapter describes the involvement of social partner organizations as an essential part of the evolution of regulatory social policy-making in the EU since the early 1990s, opening two main perspectives of research: first, the analysis of the institutional framework, density, and interaction forms of various forms of public–private partnership at the EU level, and second, its effect on the effectiveness and legitimacy of European policies and their implementation at the Member State level. As demonstrated in the chapter, a rich literature has evolved on the subject, indicating the potential and shortcomings of social partner involvement.

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Wendler, F. (2017). The Cooperation of the European Union with Employer and Labor Associations. In: Koops, J., Biermann, R. (eds) Palgrave Handbook of Inter-Organizational Relations in World Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-36039-7_29

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