The interplay between the EU and its member states in the policy-making processes in the field of employment policy

General information

Code: J5-60088
Period: 1.1.2025 - 31.12.2027
Project leader at FDV: doc.dr. Marko Hočevar
Research activity: Social sciences

Abstract

The project analyzes the interplay between the EU and its member states in the policy-making process in the field of national employment policy before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The project focuses on the EU-established specific policy instruments in the field of employment policy, and on various policy recommendations from the EU, on the one hand, and on the transfers of policy instruments and policy proposals from the EU level in the member states within the framework of local political and ideological conditions. The main purpose of the project is to investigate the interaction and interplay of two levels of policy-making in the field of employment policy and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the potential changes that occurred in this interaction. The research will focus on three EU member states: Slovenia, Portugal, and Ireland. These three countries have different types of public policy networks, different types of market economies, different welfare regimes, different growth models, and different political and economic traditions in the 20th century and became EU members at different times. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, all three countries based their employment policies on the concept of flexibility, during the pandemic they implemented policy instruments and public policies that pursued the goal of employment stability and protection.

In the project, we will thus analyze the interaction and importance of specific policy instruments and mechanisms established by the EU - SURE, RRF, ESF+, NGEU - and their use for (co)financing various schemes to prevent the increase in unemployment and other policy instruments before, during and after the COVID-19 crisis in three selected countries. In addition, we will research the recommendations for three countries in the field of employment policy, which were created within the framework of the European Semester, and other policy proposals from the EU, before, during, and after the pandemic, and the transfer and implementation of these policy recommendations in the three selected countries. In this context, we will pay special attention to domestic political power relations and the influence of key stakeholders (unions and employers) on the adaptation, transfer, and implementation of instruments and policy recommendations from the EU to the national level.

The project investigates the interaction between the EU and the member states in the field of employment policy using different methods: the comparative case study method; in-depth (semi) structured interviews with key actors in selected countries and at the EU level (representatives of EU institutions, state representatives, trade unions, employers); analysis of data on the labor market and unemployment rates in selected countries, as well as expenditures for various instruments in the field of employment policy (Eurostat, OECD, EUROFOUND, EU LFS) and especially the use of European financial instruments for these purposes; and analysis of various EU documents (policy recommendations for individual countries within the framework of the European Semester and other recommendations and reports) as well as changes in legislation and strategies in three selected countries in the field of employment policy. Through the analysis of the interplay of the EU and member states in the policy-making processes in the field of employment policy before, during, and after the pandemic, the research project will fill the gap in the existing literature. The first comparative analysis of case studies of the interplay of the EU level and member states in the process of policy-making in the field of employment policy and the changes that have occurred in the context of the COVID-19 crisis represents the key scientific contribution of the research project.

The phases of the project and their realization

The research will be conducted in nine work packages (WPs), which will be partly sequential and partly simultaneous. The first WP (management) and the last WP (dissemination of results) will take place simultaneously with all other WPs:

WP 1: Project management (M1-M36)
WP 2: Development of the theoretical and analytical framework for the analysis of the interplay between the EU and member states in the field of national employment policy (M1-M5)
WP 3: Research on the use of the EU-developed policy mechanisms and instruments in the examined states in the field of national employment policy (M6-M11)
WP 4: Analysis of the EU policy recommendations in the field of employment policy for the three examined states before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic (M11-M15)
WP 5: Analysis of the policy transfers of the EU policies and policy recommendations in the three selected states (M15-M19)
WP 6: Analysis of the influence of the domestic political and policy arena on the transfer and implementation of EU policy instruments and recommendations (M18-M22)
WP 7: Field research and in-depth interviews (M21-M31)
WP 8: Analysis of the data, synthesis of the results and comparison of the selected states (M31-M35)
WP 9: Dissemination of project results (M1-M36)

Research Organisation

https://cris.cobiss.net/ecris/si/en/project/22724

Researchers

https://cris.cobiss.net/ecris/si/en/project/22724

Citations for bibliographic records

https://cris.cobiss.net/ecris/si/en/project/22724

Key words

covid-19, employment policy, european union, policy transfer, state

Sustainable Development Goals

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