In search of a "European model" for fixed-term work in the name of the principle of effectiveness

With Directive 1999/70 on Fixed-Term Work - and more generally through European Directives on flexible work - the European legislator tried to strike a balance between the demands for flexibility coming from employers and the needs to safeguard the rights of flexible workers. Fifteen years after the adoption of Directive 1999/70, the present study aims to start from its purposes, in order to identify the basic components of a possible ‘European model’ for Fixed-Term Work by following the EUCJ's case law, which has established, ‘in the name’ of the principle of effectiveness, some important restrictions to Member States' discretion in implementing the Directive: a model that may prove useful for evaluating the European consistency of the relevant national laws.