Self-Employment in the EU and Italian Legal Systems: Recent Trends and Missed Steps

Abstract

The article offers an assessment of the social protection granted to self-employed workers in the EU and Italian legal systems. It is structured as follows: first, the EU regulation currently in force is analysed to assess whether and to what extent self-employed workers can be considered entitled to social protection; second, self-employment under Italian law is analysed. The regulatory choices that set the Italian system apart from the current EU regulatory trends are highlighted, especially with regard to the use of self-employment as grounds for ad hoc regulation, and not only as the other side of the coin in relation to standard employment. In fact, since 2017, Italy has provided an ad hoc regulatory framework for self-employment, which, though not comparable to that for standard employees in terms of the level of protection, provides incipient protection specifically designed for self-employed workers. More recently, measures have been taken to support self-employed workers during market transitions and joblessness, especially in the acute phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, which in turn gave rise to the need for extraordinary income support measures self-employed workers. On the other hand, the EU continues to focus on related albeit clearly distinct issues: the fight against bogus self-employment and the extension of social protection to particularly vulnerable workers who fall outside the scope of protection of employment law. The proposed directive on platform work is the most recent evidence of this: by means of an unprecedented system of legal presumptions, it seeks to bring platform work within the regulatory scope of standard employment. In light of these developments, the concluding remarks argue that self-employment is worthy of attention on the part of the EU, not merely to avoid the circumvention of the obligations for standard employment, but above all to adopt ad hoc regulations that acknowledge and protect self-employed workers’ interests while safeguarding their social citizenship and dignity. It is argued that there is no conflict between the extension of the protection granted to employees on open-ended contracts to new types of work with a view to strengthening protection for self-employed workers. Self-Employment, Legal Protection, Pandemic, Economic and Social Measures