Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø

In May 2012, theÌýLabour Rights Institute of Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø (LRI), with the support of the British Academy, the Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø European Institute, and the Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø Faculty of Laws, organised an international conference on ‘Resocialising Europe and the Mutualization of Risks to Workers’.

During this two-day conference, a number of labour law and industrial relations academics, trade union officials, and national and European policy makers, offered a rich and articulate analysis and critique of the current state of the European integration project, and its increasingly lackluster record in the social, economic, and political spheres.

A fairly unique trait of the conference proceedings was the willingness of its participants to rescue the European integration project by rescuing its Social Dimension. The conference thus became a lab to experiment with and test new normative suggestions for ‘Resocialising Europe’.

Some of these suggestions made their way in a number of very original and highly normative papers, which were eventually collected and edited and can now be found in the CUP publication N. Countouris and M. Freedland (eds),ÌýÌý(CUP, 2013).

What you can also find in this page is a copy of the 2012 Conference Programme , theÌýconcept note for the Conference, and two excellent blog posts by Professor Keith Ewing (posting-live) (posting-pdf) and Sir John Monks (posting-live)(posting-pdf).

18-19 May 2012 – Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø Faculty of Laws, London

Terms such as ‘Social Europe’, the ‘European Social Dimension’, ‘European Social Model’, and, moreÌýrecently, ‘European Social Pact’, have long resided in the political and regulatory lexicon of EuropeanÌýintegration.

But arguably, after reaching a climax in 2000 with the inclusion of a ‘Solidarity’ chapter in theÌýCharter of Fundamental Rights, the social profile of the EU has entered a deep period of crisis, one may say aÌýphase of ‘social eurosclerosis’, recently exacerbated by the political responses to the economic downturn andÌýits severe consequences on social and labour standards across the EU.

The status quo is one in which workers once again appear to shoulder most of the risks attendant upon theÌýmaking and execution of arrangements for the doing of work, and associated with their particular personalÌýwork situation in the labour market at large.

We define this status quo as one in which a process of de-mutualisation of work related risks is seriously undermining the hard-fought and hard-earned social acquisÌýthat national social law, and Social Europe itself, once aspired to provide. And we advocate a reversal of thisÌýtrend in favour of a process of fair-mutualisation of these risks, so as to disperse them away from workers, andÌýshare them more equitably between employers, the state, but also consumers, and society at large.

TheÌýÌýseeks to bring together an interdisciplinary group of experts from theÌýUK and the rest of Europe to discuss whether this current phase of ‘social eurosclerosis’ is likely to become aÌýpermanent feature of the EU, or whether new regulatory trajectories could and ought to be pursued.Ìý

For further information you can contact Dr Nicola Countouris atÌýn.countouris@ucl.ac.ukÌýand/or Professor Mark Freedland atÌýmark.freedland@law.ox.ac.uk.