Author profile

Roland Erne

Roland Erne is professor of European integration and employment relations, and principal investigator of the European Research Council project ‘Labour Politics & the EU's New Economic Governance Regime‘, in the School of Business and the Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin.

People walking across a mountain bridge with Swiss and EU flags in the background.

Switzerland Votes Down a Xenophobic Initiative — Thanks to the Unions

Roland Erne

A decades-long union campaign on wage protection helped Swiss voters bury the SVP’s population cap and keep the EU door open.

EU Court Upholds Minimum Wage Directive in Victory for Social Europe

Roland Erne

The ruling preserves key provisions on wage adequacy and collective bargaining, revealing how employer lobbying inadvertently expanded EU social policy powers.

Lady Justice with scales and gavel, European Union flags in background.

The EU Minimum Wage Directive: To Be or Not to Be?

Roland Erne

Court challenge to EU minimum wage directive exposes tensions between legal interpretation, political compromise and social policy.

On a plane with Nicolas Schmit

Roland Erne

The lead candidate of the Party of European Socialists sets out his political stall for the European Parliament elections in June.

How To Explain The Swiss Vote Against The Free Movement Of Workers

Roland Erne

On 8 February 2009, almost 60 percent of Swiss voters supported the extension of the bilateral EU-Switzerland agreement on the free movement of workers to