Conclusion

This concluding chapter synthesises a decade of labour market reform in Portugal and Spain across four arenas: employment protection and collective bargaining, minimumwage governance, platformwork regulation in passenger transport, and the regularisation of precarious publicsector employment. It tests the book's central claim that the composition of the governing social bloc is a necessary, though not sufficient, determinant of reform orientation; arenaspecific veto structures and the European Union, conceptualised as a conditional external selector, magnify or constrain that orientation. Drawing on a comparative matrix of eight reforms, the chapter shows that Spain's cohesive Left–Union bloc delivered predominantly inclusive settlements, whereas Portugal's Centrist–Employer configurations, often routed through social concertation, yielded competitive outcomes or diluted forms of inclusivity. The analysis refines theories of dualisation by specifying when solidarity strategies travel beyond outsiderfocused fixes, and it contributes to socialbloc theory by demonstrating how coalitional cohesion and venue choice shape the depth and durability of change. The chapter closes with strategic lessons for unions and left parties on coalition building, arena selection, and the pragmatic use of European instruments to widen the scope for solidaristic reform.