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The changing composition of trade unions has far-reaching consequences for the relationship between unions and the polity. In particular, the concentration of trade union membership in the public sector – a process that has been taking place in most EU countries – implies a shift away from collective agreements towards legislation as the dominant way of managing employment relations. Pluralist models of collective bargaining assume a neutral, mediating role of the state, but in the public sector the state by definition acts as an employer as well. The state is equipped with the sovereign power to circumvent traditional bargaining agreements and force its will upon trade unions through legislation. The article investigates major bargaining disputes in Europe after 2008, focusing on two countries (Ireland and Denmark) that have different political environments and that, although affected differently by the financial crisis, underwent similar government interventions in labour relations. The findings suggest that a shift towards legislation is a tendency that affects all types of industrial relations systems.

This paper asks how governments across Europe have responded to the dilemma between financialresponsibility and political responsiveness against the background of heightened fiscal pressure.Focusing on the domestic politics of healthcare reforms in four contrasted cases (England, France,Hungary, and Ireland), we investigate how governments frame and legitimize these reforms. Wefind that references to input legitimacy vary greatly according to prevailing values of governmentsand party politics in the respective national realms. With regard to output legitimacy, efficiency andfinancial sustainability tend to prevail over concerns related to quality in those countries that aremore affected by debt. Across all cases, governments rely on an instrumentalist conception ofthroughput legitimacy, meaning that they use consultation with different stakeholders as a way toprevent adverse politicization and to support their framing of the reforms. ; SCOPUS: ar.j ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Explaining the drivers of healthcare reforms against the background of the recent financial and debt crisis in Europe has proved particularly challenging. While the effects of the crisis on healthcare funding and provision seems inevitable, notably through a diffuse pressure to enforce fiscal discipline, it is difficult to detect a change in ideas and policies following the 'fast burning' and 'slow burning' phases of the crisis (Seabrooke and Tsingou 2016). All European countries have faced similar challenges in terms of ageing population, slow productivity gains, and reduced public resources over the past three decades. Insofar, healthcare systems had been going through a slow burning crisis long before the outbreak of the European debt crisis. Furthermore, the common pressure of austerity does not bring a convergence of welfare systems as its effects are strongly mediated by domestic politics (Hemerijck et al. 2013).