The annual meeting of the Presidents and Secretaries-General of the national Economic and Social Councils and the EESC, Dublin

This morning I flew to Dublin with the European Economic and Social Committee’s President, Staffan Nilsson, to join the annual meeting of the Presidents and Secretaries-General of the national Economic and Social Councils and the EESC. The meeting is being hosted by the Irish National Economic and Social Council and is taking place in the rather splendid surroundings of St Patrick’s Hall in Dublin Castle. The conference theme is labour market and welfare benefit reforms, and at the moment we are listening to a fascinating and very learned analysis by Dr John Sweeney, an NESC senior analyst. I  find his compararive analysis of competing and/or complementary paradigms of the labour market and social particularly pertinent and particularly the way these different paradigms affect social dialogue during the recession (the three paradigms are Keynesian, Pro-market and Social investment). He ended his presentation by highlighting a potential paradox; it can be easier to undertake positive reforms when money is scarce…