With a preface by by the President of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker

The PEPPER IV Report, published in 2009, provides the first comprehensive overview on employee participation in all Member States and candidate countries of the European Union. Furthermore, it offers comprehensive empirical data on employee participation in the 27 EU Member States and two candidate countries, its significance in economic practice; legal obstacles and future possibilities. The Report consists of three complementary basic components:

• Description of the legal environment, fiscal or other incentives and social partners' attitudes in country profiles;
• Benchmarking financial participation, i.e., the scope and nature of financial participation schemes against the background of the country profiles;
• Comparative analysis of the national policies and characteristics that affect the environment for financial participation, providing a frame of reference for each individual profile.

The Commission-funded project, led by Dr. Jens Lowitzsch, closes the gap between PEPPER I/II (1991, EU-12 / 1997, EU-15) and PEPPER III (2006, 10 new Member States and 4 candidate countries) which until now prevented a full profiling of financial participation policy and practice, and applies the benchmarking indicators developed by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.