The EU Minimum Wage Directive: To Be or Not to Be?

The year began dramatically for Social Europe. On 14 January, Nicholas Emiliou, one of the European Union’s Advocates General, advised the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to annul the Adequate Minimum Wages Directive (AMWD). His opinion supported an action for annulment brought by the Kingdom of Denmark against the European Parliament and the Council, arguing that the AMWD would undermine the rights of national social partners and breach the principle of conferral of powers. In this guest post, Roland Erne discusses these developments.

Moving towards Social Europe? The EU post-2008 crisis economic governance regime under review.

Photo by Yanni Koutsomitis

Following the 2008 financial crisis, the European Union adopted a new economic governance regime. As Jamie Jordan, Vincenzo Maccarrone and Roland Erne explain, some scholars have argued that this new regime places greater emphasis on social objectives. Drawing on a new study of labour policy interventions in Germany, Ireland, Italy and Romania between 2009 and 2019, they demonstrate that this is not the case, with EU interventions continuing to be shaped by a liberalisation agenda.

The Future of the Left – Where next for Britain’s labour movement?

‘The Conservatives are not invincible – splits over the forthcoming EU referendum and their small majority in parliament are only two signs of their weakness. Together, the Left can stem the tide of austerity’, these were the words of the TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady. In front of a full lecture theatre with 300 people, she delivered the first Ken Coates memorial lecture, organised by the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and co-hosted by the Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice (CSSGJ) and the local University and College Union (UCU) association. In this post, I will draw out some of her key points.