Sectoral social dialogue at EU level - recent results and implementation challenges

Abstract

This article deals with recent developments in EU social dialogue, namely so-called 'new generation texts', which are non-binding legally, but 'implementation-oriented'. Aspects of their follow-up, implementation and multi-level characteristics are therefore discussed. Findings from two sectoral dialogues indicate that follow-up procedures can vary considerably. Furthermore, the implementation or impact of such 'new generation texts' seem hard to prove. It is argued that characteristics of national industrial relations systems are insufficient to explain implementation results, since both the interests and attitudes of the actors involved and the specific topic of a given 'new generation text' must be taken into account. The main difficulty is found to be the lack of adequate implementation structures due to missing inter- and intraorganizational 'level linkage'.