This chapter in forthcoming in A. Perulli, T. Treu (eds.), The Role of the State and Industrial Relations, Kluwer Law International.
This article focuses on the clumsy interaction between the formal and the material constitution of EU industrial relations law, outlining the ambiguities and contradictions that have marked the EU’s institutional role in the frail European industrial relations system that has gradually emerged along the lines of the formal supranational provisions. It is argued that the initial phase of support for the so-called institutional bargaining and, to a certain extent, of sectoral social dialogue has gradually overlapped with – and been replaced by – the reversal of the promotional role played by supranational institutions.