Politicising Commodification
European Governance and Labour Politics from the Financial Crisis to the Covid Emergency

Analyses the EU's post-2008 economic governance regime and the labour protests it triggered that threw a lifeline to EU democracy.

Roland Erne (Author), Sabina Stan (Author), Darragh Golden (Author), Imre Szabó (Author), Vincenzo Maccarrone (Author)

9781316511633, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 June 2024

434 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.9 cm, 0.77 kg

'The book offers a fascinating analysis of the profound institutional shifts during the euro crisis. In their detailed, meticulous, and broadly based analysis, the authors demonstrate that the EU continues to pursue a market-liberal agenda even after the euro crisis, implementing it with the help of vertical intervention mechanisms. … It makes an important contribution to the debate on the future and democratization of the EU by not only presenting a detailed analysis of the NEG regime but also developing new conceptual tools for understanding the dynamics of European governance.' Felix Syrovatka, Politische Vierteljahresschrift

This book examines the new economic governance (NEG) regime that the EU adopted after 2008. Its novel research design captures the supranational formulation of NEG prescriptions and their uneven deployment across countries (Germany, Italy, Ireland, Romania), policy areas (employment relations, public services), and sectors (transport, water, healthcare). NEG led to a much more vertical mode of EU integration, and its commodification agenda unleashed a plethora of union and social-movement protests, including transnationally. The book presents findings that are crucial for the prospects of European democracy, as labour politics is essential in framing the struggles about the direction of NEG along a commodification–decommodification axis rather than a national–EU axis. To shed light on corresponding processes at EU level, it upscales insights on the historical role that labour movements have played in the development of democracy and welfare states. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

1. Introduction
Part I. Analytical Framework: 2. European economic governance and labour politics
3. A paradigm shift in European integration and labour politics
4. How to assess the policy orientation of the EU's NEG prescriptions?
5. Contextualising the EU's NEG prescriptions and research design
Part II. EU Economic Governance in Two Policy Areas: 6. EU governance of employment relations and its discontents
7. EU governance of public services and its discontents
Part III. EU Economic Governance in Three Sectors: 8. EU governance of transport services and its discontents
9. EU governance of water services and its discontents
10. EU governance of healthcare and its discontents
Part IV. Comparative Analysis and Post-Pandemic Developments: 11. Labour politics and the EU's NEG prescriptions across areas and sectors
12. The EU's shift to a post-Covid NEG regime
13. The policy orientation of the EU's post-Covid NEG regime
14. Conclusion
Glossary
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Laws of Specific jurisdictions [LN]