Employment Policy and the Regulation of Part-time Work in the European Union: A Comparative Analysis

This book originates from the research project 'New discourses in labour law' held at the European University Institute. A detailed analysis of part-time work regulation is presented for seven European countries, in order to ascertain how internal domestic choices of the legislatures have merged into the 'Open method of co-ordination'. The impact of European employment policies is considered in parallel with the implementation of the Directive on part-time work, thus providing a complete overview of both soft and hard law mechanisms available to national policy-makers. In this 2004 work, the interaction between law and policy emerges as a dynamic and constantly changing process of exchange between national and supranational actors, through the use of concrete examples of lawmaking. Labour law is put forward as being central in the current evolution of European law, and this centrality is presented as a confirmation of innovation and continuity in regulatory techniques.

List of figures and tables; Preface; List of abbreviations; Notes on contributors; Part I: 1. New discourses in labour law: part-time work and the paradigm of flexibility Silvana Sciarra; 2. The European employment strategy and the regulation of part-time work Diamond Ashiagbor; 3. The role of EU employment law and policy in the de-marginalisation of part-time work: a study in the interaction between EU regulation and member state regulation Paul Davies and Mark Freedland; Part II: 4. France: no longer an employment policy tool Sylvaine Laulom; 5. Germany: a bone of contention Maximilian Fuchs; 6. Italy: adaptable employment and private autonomy in the Italian part-time reform Antonio Lo Faro; 7. The Netherlands: from atypicality to typicality Jelle Visser, Ton Wilthagen, Ronald Beltzer and Esther Van Der Putte; 8. Spain: the difficulty of marrying flexibility with security Fernando Valdes Dal-Re; 9. Sweden: welfare or unfair? Ronnie Eklund; 10. The United Kingdom: how is EU governance transformative? Claire Kilpatrick and Mark Freedland.