In 2012 the ILO and the European Commission (EC) partnered on a joint research and capacity-building project that aimed to analyse the impact of structural reform and fiscal consolidation policies on the labour market and industrial relations of selected European countries; to assess the role of social dialogue during the adjustment process; and to understand the latter’s main impact. The project focused on severely hit crisis countries that have been under the assistance programmes financed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the EC, and the European Central Bank (ECB), in particular, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland and Portugal–but also Spain–which received financial support to repair its financial sector, as well as Italy, which has also been facing a debt problem and very weak economic growth, and implemented significant reforms accordingly.

The research component of this project–which built on ILO research initiated since 2008 on “good practices” in the area of policy responses to crises, and the Global Jobs Pact adopted by the International Labour Conference (ILC) in June 2009–involved national studies on key industrial relations developments as of 2010 (ie the onset of the public debt crisis). The studies served as background material for a series of policy-dialogue and capacity-building seminars that took place in 2012 and 2013, in Geneva, Dublin, Lisbon, Athens and Nicosia. These seminars, coordinated by the ILO, have been the first effort to bring together in policy dialogue national policy-makers, social partners and representatives from the IMF, EC and ECB, to assess the labour and industrial relations situation in Europe, and discuss the merits of social partnership as a key component for equitable recovery. In addition to facilitating dialogue, the seminars also contributed to sharing experiences between national constituents and social partners from other countries on crisis-related matters.