A Compass or a Spear? The Partisan Usage of Europe in Portuguese Employment- friendly Reforms

Alike but not alike: Welfare state and unemployment policies in Southern Europe. Italy and Portugal compared

“…The fact that Portugal has a GMI while Italy still lacks it makes a substantial difference in these countries' protection of the unemployed. As argued by Zartaloudis (, p. 184), ‘Although at first sight the GMI did not appear to be an employment policy measure, it had significant implications for the protection of the unemployed’. Furthermore, because the introduction of the GMI in Portugal was recommended by the European community, it was designed as an employment‐friendly instrument; recipients could be penalised if they refused a job offer or integration measure while benefiting from the minimum income guarantee, and they were obliged to accept a job through a social intervention contract (Guibentif & Bouget, ; Katrougalos & Lazaridis, ).…”

“…Table presents different scores on this indicator between Italy (−1) and Portugal (0). Both countries follow a general European trend towards an increase in the diffusion of temporary contracts as a way to foster flexibility in the labour market, but both do so less energetically than other European countries (neither of the two countries has in fact a ‘positive’ score here) (Graziano & Jessoula, ; Zartaloudis, ). However, in Portugal, the diffusion of temporary work in 2009–2010 increased by 1 per cent, putting the country among the top five EU Member States with respect to the increase of temporary work, whereas in Italy temporary work increased by only 0.3 per cent and the average duration in terms of months/years of this type of contract is declining (Eurofound, ).…”

“…This was first supported in a Green Paper on the Labour Market in the mid‐2000s, then disavowed in the 2007 White Paper after social partners, especially the unions, had fiercely opposed it. The flexicurity model was finally implemented in full a few years later (Venn, ; Zartaloudis, ).…”

“…Furthermore, in both countries, unions have often been divided about what attitude to adopt towards the reforms; some have been more inclined to bargain with the government, whereas others have either not come to the negotiation table or left at an early stage [e.g., Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL) in Italy under Berlusconi's labour market reforms through the 2000s, and Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses (CGTP) in Portugal in 2005–2008 during the centre‐left government‐led reforms]. In both Italy and Portugal, the full implementation of labour market reforms, such as a full‐fledged flexicurity, has not been accomplished because of the strong opposition of the unions (Zartaloudis, ).…”

“…There is no doubt that insurance against unemployment and the way states regulate unemployment have characterised the welfare state since its inception in 19th‐century continental Europe. Usually, Italy and Portugal are considered both as ‘Southern European’ and ‘Mediterranean’ welfare regimes (Ferrera, ; Ritter, ), although in one school of thought, Portugal is regarded as a ‘Southern outlier’ (Zartaloudis, ). Extending this latter approach, we argue in this article that with respect to a specific unemployment policy and its provisions, the two countries do in fact differ.…”