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Article contents
III. Social Policy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 January 2008
Extract
Since the 1997 Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conference a sea-change in the formulation and implementation of European Union Social Law and Policy has taken place in response to the demands made by economic, political and monetary union. The evolution of EU social law is an area which has developed within a process or framework of “differentiated integration”,1 not only between the Member States, but also the regions of the EU. Since its emergence in the EU Council's Conclusions of 22 June 19842 the concept of a “European Social Area” has slowly been created by the processes of “Europeanisation”3 of social policy whereby through EU-led processes a “re-nationalisation”4 of domestic policies has taken place. The process is similar to the ideas of “re-regulation” of national law in relation to the basic economic freedoms of the EC Treaty whereby a measure of national autonomy can only be retained through European Community law standards. It is striking how the Amsterdam IGC has led to a definite shift in the paradigm of EU social policy law with distinctive aims, values, processes, new legal tools and new political actors.
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- Current Developments: European Community Law
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- Copyright © British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2001
References
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39. Supra n.16, Part I, 4.3.
40. COM (1999) 347. Other “soft law” during 2000 includes the following Commission documents: COM (2000) 79 Building An Inclusive Europe; COM (2000) 78, Policies in Support of Employment; COM (2000) 163, Report on Social Protection in Europe and COM (2000) 368, Proposal for a Decision to the European Parliament and Council Establishing a Programme of Community Action to Encourage Co-operation Between the Member States to Combat Social Exclusion.
41. These comprise employment, health care, old age and social exclusion.
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43. A prime concern has been the sustainability of pension schemes. One of the first mandates given to the High Level Group at the Lisbon Summit of Mar. 2000 was to prepare a study, based upon a Commission Communication, on the long-term evolution of social protection. Pensions are estimated to make up over 40% of social security budgets and all Member States face the common challenge of an ageing population. In contrast other policies from the Commission's 1999 Communication have not been followed up, for example, the Council has explicitly excluded public health issues from these processes (see COM (2000) 285), strategies for the new Accession of the Central and Eastern European States have not been fully refined beyond vague reference to the need to secure a balance between economic and social development in applicant States and new ground rules have not been established for alternative models for financing social security.
44. Commission Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Strategic Objectives for 2000–2005, Shaping the New Europe COM (2000) 154.
45. For a wider discussion see E. Szyszczak, EC Labour Law, supra n.17, pp 17–18.
46. These four categories comprise 1. The basics (employment, good social protection, health care and housing); 2. Prevention of exclusion (use of new IT technologies, action for the disabled, prevention of debt, exclusion from school, homelessness); 3. Help for the most vulnerable (disabled, other groups, children); 4. Mobilisation of all parties (public authorities, social partners, NGOs, social responsibility of business).
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49. The changes ushered in by the old Article 118A EC in the Single European Act 1987 were the legislative beginnings for such a process, although, of course, the lead was taken much earlier by the Court of Justice.
50. Case 43/75 [1976] E.C.R. 455.
51. Case C–67/96 Albany International BV v. Stichting Bedrijfspensioenfonds Textielin-dustrie, judgment of 21 Sept. 1999.
52. Ibid, para.54.
53. Case C–50/96, judgment of 10 Feb. 2000.
54. Case 149/77 Defrenne III [1978] E.C.R. 1365, paras 26 and 27; Joined Cases 75/82 and 117/82 Razzouk and Beydoun v. Commission [1984] E.C.R. 1509, para. 16; Case C–13/94 P v. S and Cornwall CC [1996] E.C.R. 1–2143, para. 19.
55. Now Article 141 EC.
56. Supra n.53, para. 57.
57. See Moreau, A., “The Lessons of Renault” in Olsson, P.-H. et al. (eds), Transnational Trade Union Rights in the European Union (1998).Google Scholar
58. See the Resolution of the European Council on the Stability and Growth Pact, 16 June 1997, OJ C 236/1 (2 Aug. 1997).
59. The Member States were slow to take this idea up, as is revealed in the Commission's 1999 Recommendations to the Member States COM (99) 442. But the 2000 Joint Report, (supra n.16, Part I, 4.5) suggests that there is greater interest (and success) in this field.