The Laval Case and the Future of Labour Relations in Sweden

Together with a series of related ECJ cases (Viking, Rüffert), the Laval case became famous as a new display of the struggle between economic freedoms and social rights in the EU. But the European controversy is only one part of the story. Focusing on the Laval case, this article goes back to the place where it all started – Sweden – and tries to shed light on the missing link between the European controversy over posted workers and the challenges that the Swedish labour model is currently facing. The Swedish labour relations system has now to cope with legal uncertainty while the government, the employers and the Trade Unions are increasingly struggling over labour regulation. Beyond its juridical aspects, the Laval case is thus a landmark political event, as it unveils and increases the turmoil of the Swedish autonomous labour relations. It thus displays a new opportunity for reforming industrial relations and labour regulations in Sweden, in a time when they are as much pressured at home as they are admired abroad.