Flexibility and security: an asymmetrical relationship?
and the establishment of a common ground, even on issues whose urgency is undisputable like the
reform of the social security and pension systems, or labour market reforms. The only exception
was the period before the accession of Greece to the European Monetary Union when the need to
comply with the formal criteria for joining the euro-zone gathered support from a wide spectrum of
political and social forces, including the trade unions that had accepted a wage freeze in order to ease
the transition pains. Most of the time, reform attempts are blocked by some key interest groups who
take advantage of their position in the institutional environment to prevent any (real or presumed)
attack on their vested interests.
The inability of the social partners to articulate a coherent and sustainable common policy agen-
da —despite their formal participation in a significant number of corporatist institutions responsible
for public policy design 50- leads into unilateral, and hence ineffective, legislative initiatives by the state
authorities. This is because the influence of the social partners in policy formulation and implementa-
tion is formalistic rather than substantial, whilst the government tends to oscillate between involve-
ment of the social partners and unilateral decisions. The lack of central direction and continuity
allows the social partners to absolve themselves from the responsibility of constructing a consensus
on labour market and welfare reforms (Ioannou 2000a). This incapacity to arrive at a compromise
on almost any issue that requires a trade-off is simply a reflection of the historic failure of the central
authority in Greece to act as a coordinating force between the various interest groups and to impose
the public interest on private or narrow corporatist interests.
6.3. Labour market systems
Labour market institutions and performance vary considerably across the four countries under
consideration. Denmark and the Netherlands have amongst the most flexible labour markets in the
EU, as well as generous unemployment benefits and effective active labour market policies; whilst
Spain and Greece, at the other end of the spectrum, retain the characteristics of traditional and
segmented labour markets, with low unemployment insurance and limited spending on active labour
market policies.
50 The social partners’ peak organisations - GSEE for labour and SEV, GSEVEE, and ESEE on behalf of business-
have the capacity to nominate their representatives in a wide array of public institutions, decision-making bodies,
ministerial committees, steering committees, monitoring committees of EU funded programs, etc.
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