This report reviews the main results of 60 years of collaboration between the European Union and the International Labour Office, covering an ever-greater range of issues to address the future of work and the challenges it poses to the sustainability of decent work and social protection. It highlights how an emphasis on quality jobs, social security and trade unions, as well as on green jobs and sustainable development, have helped give the ideology of the EU a progressive, democratic and open-minded perspective. The analysis shows that while new regulation is likely to bear a cost for firms and, very often, also for governments, these short-term concerns should be seen in the context of the longer-term contribution they can make to the economic and social development of countries.