This book explores the concept of 'civil society', which over recent years has been revived and introduced into the institutional debate within the EU. Significantly, EU institutions themselves have made reference to civil society and, on an academic plane, it has been argued that the debate on the legitimacy of European governance should value the role of civil society organisations. Bringing together lawyers and political scientists, the book studies the role of civil society organisations in the multi-level context of European governance. Civil Society and Legitimate European Governance bridges the distance between normative suggestions, legal instruments and empirical analysis. Providing original contributions to the research on European governance, this book will appeal to all scholars and students with an interest in European integration and European institutions.

This volume examines the role of law in increasing the legitimacy of European decision-making by structuring and facilitating diverse forms of participation, representation, and deliberation whilst ensuring transparency and accountability. The democratic deficit and the legitimacy of the European Union have attracted the attention of both lawyers and political scientists, but few have examined normatively the role of interest groups or of functional participation in European governance.This book examines institutional settings, such as committees, agencies, and social dialogue within which such participation occurs. Moving beyond generalities, tye author provides a detailed empirical account of participation within one policy sector: EC occupational health and safety. Smismans argues that different institutional settings for functional participation are underpinned by very different considerations: they weight balanced representation, deliberation, and expertise differently. He shows how this participation differs between legislation and regulatory implementation, and appraises the extent to which participation can compensate for a lack of territorial representation in implementation procedures, and can exert some control over 'scientific experts'. This book reveals changes in functional participation over time, from regulatory to persuasive policy-making; and argues that the 'new' forms of governance are not necessarily more participatory than the old.

This is the first book to provide a clear overview and innovative analysis of the multiple ways the European Union affects industrial relations. It frames the EU as the provider of both a new institutional framework and policy context for industrial relations. It first examines the European level institutional framework for industrial relations, namely the European social dialogue at cross-sectoral, sectoral and company level, as well as interactions between these and transnational developments. It then focuses on the EU's role as a driver for institutional change in industrial relations at the national level, and subsequently analyses how the EU's policy framework, such as the common market freedoms, economic governance and Agenda 2020, influences industrial relations. The book will be of great interest particularly to all those involved in industrial relations and EU studies and more generally to anyone interested in the EU's debated and contested role in socio-economic governance in the face of an economic crisis that puts into question existing national and transnational governance structures.