Managing age in EU employment law: between non-discrimination and intergenerational solidarity

This article examines the management of age in EU employment law, analysing the structural tension between individual rights to non-discrimination and collective socio-economic interests. Adopting a diachronic perspective, it shows how EU soft law has gradually moved from a generational trade-off model to a more holistic approach based on intergenerational solidarity and workplace coexistence. The article then critically reviews the Court of Justice’s case law on age-related derogations under Directive 2000/78/EC, showing that the Court grants Member States a wide margin of discretion when employment policy goals are invoked, often in tension with EU institutional soft law. The essay argues that anti discrimination law offers only limited protection in this field, due to the heterogeneity of age as a protected ground and the continued primacy of economic considerations.