Participation in European Companies: views from social partners in three Member States

The decision to establish a European Company (SE) is determined not only by the company but also by institutional factors outside the company. Employers' organisations and trade unions, with their long history of interaction within national systems of industrial relations, influence basic attitudes towards European integration, international business and related issues, such as board-level participation. This paper looks at the attitudes of social partners towards the SE and employee participation in three EU Member States: Germany, the UK and Spain. While Germany has a well-established system of co-determination, Spain and the UK had, until recently, hardly any form of employee participation. These two countries, and certainly their employers' organisations, were at least hesitant towards, and sometimes opposed to, all forms of regulation on employee participation. This attitude has long hampered policymaking on the SE and employee participation and may also determine future prospects for legislation. The authors conclude that employee participation in an SE will need to be the subject of the same learning process as has been the case with respect to European Works Councils.