FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG EMPLOYEE FINANCIAL PARTICIPATION 7 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Depending on how it is legislated, the establishment of EFP by law can be a way to restore the work-capital balance, it can increase the level of welfare of employees and, if channelled to savings plans, will contribute to growth of the real economy. Case studies suggest that the Swedish model of using employees' funds is not politically realistic even in the most favourable context. The fact that the discussion about those funds has not been revived in Sweden(Furaker 2016) and especially that the Meidner Plan failed in the most generous and well-funded of welfare states, with a record rate of employee activity, permanent tax surpluses, competitive export industries that are nationalised, a full-fledged society based on solidarity in which the unionisation rate has been 80 percent and in which a cultural hegemony is enjoyed by the social left is not likely to offer any realistic hopes that it could be implemented in a country like Romania, where the situation is diametrically opposite on all six factors listed here. Another lesson from the failure of the Meidner Plan was that discussions about the inclusion of small businesses in EFP's mandatory range were politically counterproductive, leading to a state of uncertainty which pushed small entrepreneurs into a defensive alliance with the big companies. The lesson here is that any EFP plan must clearly exclude small employers. On the other hand, the consensus around the French“variable geometry” model adopted in a country with activist and adversarial unions, but extremely weak in terms of the density of their members, suggests that this may be a sustainable form of EFP. These are reasons why the French legislation, favourable to employees, but also offering benefits to employers in terms of tax breaks and environment financing, would be best suited as a source of specific inspiration for similar legislation in the Romanian context. On the other hand, however, the political context surrounding adoption of this legislation in France(a new republican system, the"third way" economic ideology of the de Gaulle regime, with the backing of some French employers at the time, a leader invested with strong presidential powers, significant political pressure from the political left in the conditions of the Cold War, a system of indicative planning of the economy in which coordination between the state and capital was deeply institutionalised, the existence of a strong protest culture but also 30 years of economic growth) could prove difficult to replicate, which means that additional political reflection is warranted, but it especially means tough political work ahead for proponents of such measures in Romania. Beyond these considerations, as a general recommendation, EFP schemes should be adjusted along the lines of the ETUC (European Trade-Union Confederation) recommendations. This means that EFP schemes should: (1) be designed for all employees, not just senior management, so that the redistribution function of schemes is truly effective; (2) be accompanied by a prohibition of substitution of salary for EFP payments; (3) be accompanied by mechanisms to protect employees against unreasonable financial risks; (4) be devised with the involvement of employees'/ unions' representatives; (5) be accompanied with stipulation of a threshold beyond which it is to apply. 12 Loriaux(2007); Lutz(1969). 1 2