The Network of European Social Policy Experts (NESPOL) is glad to announce the 

2nd NESPOL WORKSHOP

Between Scylla and Charybdis:
European Social Policy Navigating the Anti-Globalist Sea

26-27 March 2026
Seminar room (Passione)
Department of Social and Political Sciences
University of Milan
Via Passione, 15 - Milan

After years of crisis, the European Union appeared to embrace a renewed social turn, moving beyond austerity, strengthening social rights and expanding interventionist governance tools. Yet this trajectory now unfolds in a far more hostile environment marked by war, geopolitical fragmentation, and the rise of anti-globalist forces. Is the EU's social turn reaching its limits?

This workshop examines the future of European social policy from three complementary angles. The first panel situates current developments within the broader political economy of European integration, analysing shifts in market interventionism, eco-social transformation, and crisis-driven polity formation. The second panel explores key social and labour market initiatives, ranging from labour rights and digital regulation to food aid and the evolution of the EU's social architecture. The third panel investigates domestic politics and implementation, focusing on labour market dualisation, platform work regulation, human capital strategies, and the related discourse of populist governments. 

A concluding roundtable assesses the pros and cons of the EU's social agenda under the second von der Leyen Commission and whether European social policy can navigate between the anti-globalist backlash and popular dissensus without losing direction.

The full workshop's programme can be downloaded below.