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There Must Be Some Way Out of Here: The Crisis, Labour Rights and M ember S tates in the Eye of the Storm
Author(s) -
Achtsioglou Eftychia,
Doherty Michael
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
european law journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.351
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1468-0386
pISSN - 1351-5993
DOI - 10.1111/eulj.12048
Subject(s) - competition (biology) , norm (philosophy) , politics , context (archaeology) , order (exchange) , political science , economics , law , political economy , economy , history , finance , ecology , archaeology , biology
This article considers the impact of the economic, social and political crisis on the labour law regimes of two of the M ember S tates of the EU most affected; G reece and I reland. Both countries have been the recipients of ‘bail‐out’ deals, negotiated and monitored by what has become known as the ‘ T roika’ of the E uropean C ommission, the E uropean C entral B ank and the I nternational M onetary F und. The article considers the extent to which both countries have been required to make amendments to their labour law regimes as a condition of their bail‐outs. It argues that the changes demanded reflect the basic norm now governing the EU legal order, namely that of ‘competition’; the logic of market integration based on the primacy of economic competition. The article sets the reforms in Greece and Ireland within the broader context of the ‘social deficit’ problem of the EU construction.