Andrew Watt
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andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt
@andrewwatteu.bsky.social
3.1K followers 1.2K following 1.2K posts

General Director, European Trade Union Institute
@etui.bsky.social

Formerly www.imk-boeckler.de

EU economic governance, comparative political economy, European integration, socio-ecological transition, wage bargaining
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Reposted by Andrew Watt

etui.bsky.social
ETUI @etui.bsky.social · 6d
Our annual occupational safety and health (OSH) conference is back, and this year's theme couldn't be more topical:

OSH in the age of artificial intelligence 💻 📱 🤖

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 6d
Update
Recommended commentary on the importance of the European Court of Justice ruling on the Minimum Wage Directive by Torsten Müller @etui.bsky.social and @thorsten-schulten.bsky.social

www.socialeurope.eu/after-landma...
After Landmark EU Court Judgement: The EU Minimum Wages Directive Is Alive and Kicking
The landmark ruling validates the directive's approach to adequate wages and collective bargaining, dealing only minor setbacks to its implementation across Europe.
www.socialeurope.eu

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 7d
As I have argued previously, this is partly because the fiscal measures are poorly targeted (among other things overly driven by defence).
bsky.app/profile/andr...
2/2
andrewwatteu.bsky.social Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · Oct 27
www.politico.eu/article/germ...
Yes, Europe needs to do more to ensure its own defence and wean itself off US dependence. But for Germany to splurge hundreds of billions on military hardware is economic and political madness.
Short 🧵
1/
Germany’s new €377B military wish list
A new procurement blueprint seen by POLITICO shows Germany’s plan to become the backbone of the continent’s defense revival.
www.politico.eu

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 7d
After two successive years of contraction in Europe's largest economy, the German Council of Economic Experts expects little more than stagnation (0.2%) in 2005. Even next year the recovery will be weak, in spite of the expansionary fiscal package.
1/2
svrwirtschaft.bsky.social Sachverständigenrat Wirtschaft @svrwirtschaft.bsky.social · 14d
Der @svrwirtschaft.bsky.social erwartet ein verhaltenes 🇩🇪 BIP-Wachstum: 0,2 % (2025) und 0,9 % (2026). Ein höheres Wachstum ist möglich, bei einer strikt zusätzlichen und investitionsorientierten Verwendung des Sondervermögens. www.sachverstaendigenrat-wirtschaft.de/jahresgutachten-2025.html

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 8d
Update
Further evidence that Germany's welcome fiscal loosening is poorly targeted: taxes on air travel are to be cut. www.tagesschau.de/inland/luftf...
Faced on the one hand with the climate crisis, on the other with a debate about financing welfare spending: Make Flying Great Again?
Luftverkehrssteuer: Union fordert günstigere Flugtickets
Die Luftverkehrssteuer soll im kommenden Jahr sinken, um die Flugbranche zu entlasten. Geht es nach dem Unions-Experten Stracke, sollen auch Reisende davon profitieren - am besten schon zum nächsten S...
www.tagesschau.de

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 12d
Robin, what alternative to joint EU debt issuance would be "governing like a geopolitical force"?

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 12d
Workers have been collectively going on strike for fair pay and better conditions for a long time.
As far as we know, for more than three thousand years.
sarahebond.bsky.social Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 12d
November 14, 1152 BCE: the first recorded workers' strike occurred in ancient Egypt under Pharaoh Ramses III. Artisans and laborers working on the royal tombs at Deir el-Medina stopped working in protest of delayed and insufficient rations, a form of wages. collezioni.museoegizio.it/en-GB/materi...
The so-called “Strike Papyrus” written by Amunnakht The scribe Amennakht is the author of this papyrus in the hieratic script. It is a report concerning a strike held during the reign of King Ramesses III in the village of Deir el-Medina. The workers protested because they had not received their regular food rations, which constituted payment for their work in the Valley of the kings. “Year 29, secondo month of the Inundation, day 10. Today the work squadron passed the control post shouting “we are hungry!” It is 18 days this month that (the men) go and sit at the back of the funerary temple of Tuthmosis III”. Despite various attempt at conciliation, the protest lasted a number of days. To the officials who tried to persuade them to return to work, the workers replied: “We are here because of the famine and thirst. We are not accustomed to not having unguents, fish, and greens. Write to the pharaoh our perfect lord, take note of our words, and write to the vizier, our superior, because we are in need of our provisions”. Inv. no. : Cat. 1880 TPOP Material: Plant fiber / Papyurs Date: 1187–1157 BCE Period: New Kingdom Dynasty: Twentieth Dynasty Reign: Ramesses III Provenance: Egypt, Luxor / Thebes, Deir el-Medina Acquisition: Purchase Bernardino Drovetti, 1824 Museum location: Museum / Floor 1 / Room 06 DEM / Central wall Selected bibliography: Andreu, Guillemette (a cura di)-Andreu, Guillemette, Gli artisti del faraone: Deir el-Medina e le Valli dei Re e delle Regine, Milano 2003, p. 187. Cline, Eric H.-O'Connor, David (ed.)-Cline H., Eric-O'Connor, David, Ramesses III: the life and times of Egypt's last hero, Ann Arbor 2012, pp. 67, 112, 118, 120–122, 136, 141, 352. Edgerton, William F., “The strikes in Ramses III's twenty-ninth year”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 10 (1951), pp. 137–145. Gabler, Kathrin, “Methods of identification among the Deir el-Medina workmen and their service personnel: the use of names, titles, patronyms and identity marks in administrativ…

Reposted by Andrew Watt

sarahebond.bsky.social
Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 12d
November 14, 1152 BCE: the first recorded workers' strike occurred in ancient Egypt under Pharaoh Ramses III. Artisans and laborers working on the royal tombs at Deir el-Medina stopped working in protest of delayed and insufficient rations, a form of wages. collezioni.museoegizio.it/en-GB/materi...
The so-called “Strike Papyrus” written by Amunnakht The scribe Amennakht is the author of this papyrus in the hieratic script. It is a report concerning a strike held during the reign of King Ramesses III in the village of Deir el-Medina. The workers protested because they had not received their regular food rations, which constituted payment for their work in the Valley of the kings. “Year 29, secondo month of the Inundation, day 10. Today the work squadron passed the control post shouting “we are hungry!” It is 18 days this month that (the men) go and sit at the back of the funerary temple of Tuthmosis III”. Despite various attempt at conciliation, the protest lasted a number of days. To the officials who tried to persuade them to return to work, the workers replied: “We are here because of the famine and thirst. We are not accustomed to not having unguents, fish, and greens. Write to the pharaoh our perfect lord, take note of our words, and write to the vizier, our superior, because we are in need of our provisions”. Inv. no. : Cat. 1880 TPOP Material: Plant fiber / Papyurs Date: 1187–1157 BCE Period: New Kingdom Dynasty: Twentieth Dynasty Reign: Ramesses III Provenance: Egypt, Luxor / Thebes, Deir el-Medina Acquisition: Purchase Bernardino Drovetti, 1824 Museum location: Museum / Floor 1 / Room 06 DEM / Central wall Selected bibliography: Andreu, Guillemette (a cura di)-Andreu, Guillemette, Gli artisti del faraone: Deir el-Medina e le Valli dei Re e delle Regine, Milano 2003, p. 187. Cline, Eric H.-O'Connor, David (ed.)-Cline H., Eric-O'Connor, David, Ramesses III: the life and times of Egypt's last hero, Ann Arbor 2012, pp. 67, 112, 118, 120–122, 136, 141, 352. Edgerton, William F., “The strikes in Ramses III's twenty-ninth year”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 10 (1951), pp. 137–145. Gabler, Kathrin, “Methods of identification among the Deir el-Medina workmen and their service personnel: the use of names, titles, patronyms and identity marks in administrativ…

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 13d
For a shorter and less technical critique see this paper by Lorenzo Bini-Smaghi: iep.unibocconi.eu/europes-inte...

Astonishing how a natural home bias in consumer preferences is not allowed for in the original analysis biasing the estimates upwards.

2/2
Europe’s Internal Tariffs: Why the IMF’s 44% Estimate Doesn’t Hold Up | IEP@BU
iep.unibocconi.eu

Reposted by Christian Chavagneux

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 13d
I've often heard the claim that inner-EU regulatory barriers are equivalent to a tariff of almost 50%. It always felt wildly implausible. Good that it is now being subject to serious scrutiny 👇
It doesn't hold up.
Policymakers are looking for the keys under the lamppost, not where they lost them
1/2
voxeu.org VoxEU @ CEPR @voxeu.org · 13d
@ckhead.bsky.social & @thierry-mayer.bsky.social‬ argue that the recent estimate of an equivalent 45% tariff in intra-EU costs is likely too high & vastly overstates the barriers which could be lowered due to Commission policy decisions.
cepr.org/voxeu/column...
#EconSky
Graph of the evolution of EU15 integration in four datasets. All 4 datasets agree that the impact of borders has gone down over time. A recent paper which has gathered significant attention estimates a 45% tariff equivalent of intra-EU border costs. This column argues that this estimate is likely too high and depends on the particular dataset used and specific estimation choices. Therefore, it also vastly overstates the barriers that are akin to tariffs and could be lowered as a result of European Commission policy decisions. Instead, it argues that there are more urgent reforms with larger potential benefits, such as boosting EU innovation capacity and R&D spending.

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 13d
Update
Today what was forecast 👆 came to pass. In the European Parliament the centre-right EPP voted with all shades of the right, against the centre & left, to gut EU legislation on corporate responsibility to ensure environmental and social sustainability

bsky.app/profile/nvon...

#SeenThisMovie
nvondarza.bsky.social Nicolai von Ondarza @nvondarza.bsky.social · 13d
And here is the second, 'Mr. Hyde' part of today's votes - where the EPP sides with the far-right, ranging from the ECR, to Orban & Le Pen's 'Patriots for Europe' and the AfD's 'Europe of Sovereign Nations' for a centre-right to far-right majority on the Omnibus 'deregulation':

Reposted by Steve Peers, Andrew Watt

nvondarza.bsky.social
Nicolai von Ondarza @nvondarza.bsky.social · 13d
And here is the second, 'Mr. Hyde' part of today's votes - where the EPP sides with the far-right, ranging from the ECR, to Orban & Le Pen's 'Patriots for Europe' and the AfD's 'Europe of Sovereign Nations' for a centre-right to far-right majority on the Omnibus 'deregulation':

Reposted by Thierry Mayer, Andrew Watt

voxeu.org
VoxEU @ CEPR @voxeu.org · 13d
@ckhead.bsky.social & @thierry-mayer.bsky.social‬ argue that the recent estimate of an equivalent 45% tariff in intra-EU costs is likely too high & vastly overstates the barriers which could be lowered due to Commission policy decisions.
cepr.org/voxeu/column...
#EconSky
Graph of the evolution of EU15 integration in four datasets. All 4 datasets agree that the impact of borders has gone down over time. A recent paper which has gathered significant attention estimates a 45% tariff equivalent of intra-EU border costs. This column argues that this estimate is likely too high and depends on the particular dataset used and specific estimation choices. Therefore, it also vastly overstates the barriers that are akin to tariffs and could be lowered as a result of European Commission policy decisions. Instead, it argues that there are more urgent reforms with larger potential benefits, such as boosting EU innovation capacity and R&D spending.

Reposted by Andrew Watt

svrwirtschaft.bsky.social
Sachverständigenrat Wirtschaft @svrwirtschaft.bsky.social · 14d
Der @svrwirtschaft.bsky.social erwartet ein verhaltenes 🇩🇪 BIP-Wachstum: 0,2 % (2025) und 0,9 % (2026). Ein höheres Wachstum ist möglich, bei einer strikt zusätzlichen und investitionsorientierten Verwendung des Sondervermögens. www.sachverstaendigenrat-wirtschaft.de/jahresgutachten-2025.html

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 14d
Honourable mention to Euractiv, thanks Nikolaus!

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 14d
Update
The Court now has a good summary explanation in English
curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/p1...

Noticeable that this important ruling has not, as far I can see, been picked up by leading European media. 🙄
Streaming - Court of Justice of the European Union
Court of Justice of the European Union
curia.europa.eu

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 15d
Beyond its immediate impact on wage setting, if it had ruled differently the Court wd have dealt a harsh blow to confidence in the EU as a vehicle for social progress and cohesion and not just for market opening
(positive vs negative integration).
ETUC statement: www.etuc.org/en/pressrele...

2/2
www.etuc.org

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 15d
It is a huge relief that the European Court of Justice has rejected the demand by Denmark and Sweden to annul the Adequate Minimum Wage Directive.

A resume of the judgement in FR is here: curia.europa.eu/juris/docume...
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CURIA - Documents
curia.europa.eu

Reposted by Francesco Saraceno

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 19d
The @etui.bsky.social is holding its annual Future of Work conference on 10-11 February 2026

If you want to present work in this area, submit an abstract
🚨 by November 14th 🚨

Details see:

www.etui.org/events/futur...
www.etui.org

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 19d
Update
@delong.social has just issued this assessment of Biden(omics). He details its overwhelmingly positive impacts, and shows the failure to cut though media misrepresentation to which several commentators also drew attention: open.substack.com/pub/braddelo...
Bidenomics: Truly Transitory Inflation, Remarkably Successful on Employment & Growth—But Unable to Break Through the Media Misinformation Machine
My attempt to set forth a balance sheet: Bidenomics was an extraordinary success. The economy healed fast; the story never did. A brief moderate transitory inflation. A long and strong jobs and...
open.substack.com

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 20d
A short overview of last week's event on the challenges facing the EU and German economies, with Peter Bofinger and Laszlo Andor.
🚨 Link to Prof. Bofinger's slides at the bottom!
etui.bsky.social ETUI @etui.bsky.social · 21d
‘The only thing that is certain is that nothing is certain’

A fitting introduction from ETUI General Director @andrewwatteu.bsky.social to our recent event 'The global economy in stormy times', with speaker Peter Bofinger and discussant László Andor 🌍

🧵👇

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 20d
www.politico.eu/article/epp-...
Apart from the substantive damage to the EU's green agenda, this is an extremely worrying development: the centre-right (EPP) is demonstrating its willingness to get into bed with the hard right. This opportunism puts the pro-European, pragmatic coalition at risk.
EU’s biggest political group bets on far-right support to cut green rules
Push to slash red tape drives an ever-bigger wedge between Europe’s traditional centrist coalition.
www.politico.eu

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 21d
In Germany around half of all employees receive a Christmas bonus payment #Weihnachtsgeld.*
But this is true of more than three quarters of workers in firms with a collective agreement, but only about 40% of those without.

* Often a fixed % of the monthly wage, sometimes a fixed absolute amount
wsiinstitut.bsky.social WSI Düsseldorf @wsiinstitut.bsky.social · 21d
Ein #Tarifvertrag lohnt sich: nicht nur, aber gerade auch zu #Weihnachten. 77 % der Arbeitnehmer*innen mit Tarif können sich auf ein #Weihnachtsgeld freuen – fehlt der Tarifvertrag, sind es nur 41 % !
Aktuelle Auswertung von Lohnspiegel.de und WSI-Tarifarchiv ➡️ www.boeckler.de/data/pm_ta_2...

Reposted by Andrew Watt

etui.bsky.social
ETUI @etui.bsky.social · 21d
‘The only thing that is certain is that nothing is certain’

A fitting introduction from ETUI General Director @andrewwatteu.bsky.social to our recent event 'The global economy in stormy times', with speaker Peter Bofinger and discussant László Andor 🌍

🧵👇

Reposted by Andrew Watt

wsiinstitut.bsky.social
WSI Düsseldorf @wsiinstitut.bsky.social · 21d
Ein #Tarifvertrag lohnt sich: nicht nur, aber gerade auch zu #Weihnachten. 77 % der Arbeitnehmer*innen mit Tarif können sich auf ein #Weihnachtsgeld freuen – fehlt der Tarifvertrag, sind es nur 41 % !
Aktuelle Auswertung von Lohnspiegel.de und WSI-Tarifarchiv ➡️ www.boeckler.de/data/pm_ta_2...

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 23d
Seen thru this lens, Biden(omics) appears all the more clearly as a tragedy of historical proportions. Had he been fit, his genuinely pro-worker policies would have tied in many of the forces discussed here and likely avoided the loss of swing states.
@mcopelov.bsky.social @deanbaker13.bsky.social
2

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 23d
Very interesting article, unfortunately paywalled, that shows just how fragmented and complex class, party-political, racial and religious allegiances have become in the US.

www.ft.com/content/e0a2...

@jonathanhopkin.bsky.social

1
The ascension of America’s Catholic right
Catholics and labour groups are re-emerging as a powerful force in the new political landscape — and their votes are up for grabs as never before
www.ft.com

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · 28d
If you are in Brussels, don't miss our event tomorrow with Peter Bofinger and Laszlo Andor. Details 👇
andrewwatteu.bsky.social Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · Oct 27
PS

🚨 Brussels-based followers 🚨
This Thursday @etui.bsky.social is hosting a presentation on the prospects for the German and European economies by Peter Bofinger, with Laszlo Andor.
www.etui.org/events/globa...
www.etui.org

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · Oct 27
My point is, exactly, that it is not a matter of (increasing) total spending.
It cannot, I think, sensibly be disputed that Russia has weakened itself militarily and economically by its attack on Ukraine and that this theatre ties up the bulk of its remaining capacity.

andrewwatteu.bsky.social
Andrew Watt @andrewwatteu.bsky.social · Oct 27
PS

🚨 Brussels-based followers 🚨
This Thursday @etui.bsky.social is hosting a presentation on the prospects for the German and European economies by Peter Bofinger, with Laszlo Andor.
www.etui.org/events/globa...
www.etui.org