EU: governments and social partners face the challenges of the green economy

Institutional and political diversity. At the level of the Member States, the political and institutional resources developed are different. Most countries created green government departments. Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Bulgaria and Hungary divided the issue over several departments, judging that it was transverse. Tripartite dialog structures, which are not formally dedicated to social dialog, specialized in green issues, such as in Denmark or Finland. Other tripartite social dialog structures, as in Slovenia, Spain or even France, which are not specialized in green issues, mention the subject. The study shows that Scandinavian countries, Germany, Austria or even Belgium are ahead of their European neighbors, regarding awareness to environmental issues, sectoral corporate action, awarding public green contracts, innovation or training. Eastern European countries have more efforts to do to clean industrial sites from the former Soviet Union. Eurofound explains that, for them, the action framework defined at European level will be decisive to guide their environment action.