THE GREEK NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT POLICY: THE EXPANDING INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

European Union has adapted an employment strategy since the decade of the 1990s that has affected all its member states. This policy is referred in the European Employment Strategy as the set of microeconomic and social policies that affect the labor supply and demand, the functioning of the labor market and the organization of internal labor of businesses. In fact, the national employment policy choices of the member states are appreciably reduced over the years. Indeed, European Union has a special competence in employment affairs in accordance with European Union Treaties. However, European Union priorities and European Integration have shaped a broader framework within which the member states implement their national employment policies. The resulting conclusion is that the European Union actually directs the member states' employment policy choices and there is not a fundamental margin for them to plan national employment policy. Especially in the case of Greece, which came under the strong supervision of European institutions during the last years of economic crisis of 2008, the possibility of pursuing an autonomous national employment policy was more limited, due to the financial constraints and the policies it was obliged to follow during the memoranda and enhanced supervision period. Regardless of this, the conclusion that emerges is that the European Union essentially directs the member states' employment policy choices, especially those with fiscal problems such as Greece.

Keywords: National employment policy, Greece, European Union, governance, Europeanization.