Website: European Labour Network for Economic Policy (ELNEP)

The ELNEP was founded in autumn 2006 to provide a counterweight to mainstream policy advice in Europe. The participating institutes identified a worrying lack of diversity in the European economic policy debate, which is biased heavily towards the supply side, exhibits a knee-jerk preference for ‘market’ solutions over social institutions, and draws conclusions from the micro for the macro level and from national for European policies.

The analytical and forecasting activities of the ELNEP put greater emphasis on macro policies and consider both demand and supply side measures to be crucial in supporting growth and employment. The network pays particular attention to issues of the labour market, employment, wages and income distribution, and wherever appropriate takes a European, rather than national, perspective: policies that may work in a single country may be counterproductive at European level.

The members of the network are financially and intellectually independent. At the same time they have institutional links to national labour movements, providing additional insights in the area of pay developments. The regional diversity of the network ensures in-depth expertise at country level. Currently the ELNEP comprises nine institutes.