Unemployment and Pensions Protection in Europe: The Changing Role of Social Partners

The new PROWELFARE, financed by the European Commission, started in December 2014. It is a two-year project coordinated by the European Social Observatory (OSE) which involves 10 partners (see the dedicated website). PROWELFARE examines the role of social partners - particularly of trade unions - in the provision of welfare protection through occupational schemes. Specific objectives of the project are:

- To provide clarification, to systematically collect information through case studies, and to define a new classification/typology for the comparative analysis of occupational welfare in Europe.
- To demonstrate the interplay between social and occupational welfare on one hand, and between social dialogue and occupational welfare on the other hand, while also looking at the complex governance of occupational welfare schemes.
- To disseminate knowledge and improve social dialogue.

The PROWELFARE project is organized around six main activities: the first two concern data gathering and national case studies, the following three involve a cross-country analysis, the sixth and last concerns the
dissemination of results.