EU employment governance revisited: Towards an innovative legal framework for employment regulation

In the regulation of employment, public authorities currently face three problems: non-standard employment, inequality and unemployment. The thesis is interested in how the EU addresses these problems. It discusses what capacity the Union has in the field of EU employment governance: What role can (and should) the EU play in safeguarding and promoting workers’ rights in the context of globalised markets and structural unemployment? The study thus examines the instruments with which the Union influences employment regulation in Europe. It evaluates whether the joint use of different modes of regulation (“integrated coordination”) is as progressive as the competitive-social justice promises which the EU’s expansive regulatory framework makes on paper. The thesis concludes that while employment governance is currently operating in the shadow of EU Economic Governance, “integrated coordination” offers potential for better securing workers’ rights.