From dismissal law to re-employment law: a culture war

This article takes stock of the flexicurity agenda from both a general perspective and from the perspective of Belgian labour market reforms. It argues that, notwithstanding the difficult crisis period and also because of it, the European Employment Strategy (EES) has succeeded in inspiring reforms along flexicurity lines. It focuses on dismissal law modernization as a case in point. However, it stresses the limits of ad hoc and piecemeal reform. Flexicurity requires commitment from partners and stakeholders. This commitment does not sufficiently materialize through limited reforms, making flexicurity increasingly a cultural challenge. The article applies this reasoning to dismissal law. It advocates a full reform of dismissal law towards re-employment law. In the absence of such a comprehensive reform, marginal reforms modernize at the surface but fail to change dismissal culture, limiting reform effectiveness, which in turn further erodes cultural confidence in Flexicurity's promise.