Completing economic and social integration: towards labour law for the United States of Europe

© Cambridge University Press 2013. The European labour law debate – and the broader issue of ‘resocialising Europe’ – is concerned with the social dimension of European integration. This is not a neutral terrain. Labour law scholarship has been struggling for a long time with the notion of the ‘European Social Model’ and the role and position of labour law in the European Union context. In the present times characterised by globalisation, economic competitiveness agendas, financial market volatility and European labour market or welfare system reform, the debate on ‘resocialising Europe’ will only intensify. Although European integration was originally viewed as focusing on the realisation of the internal market (for economic purposes), it has become widely accepted that economic and social integration go hand in hand. This double bind of European integration is enshrined in the Treaties and has been politically accepted since the 1972Paris Declaration. However, the question of how the balance between economic and social integration should exactly be considered remains a matter of (high) debate. This tension, which some have called a ‘schism’ between the ‘economic’ and the ‘social’ dimension, ultimately affects the role and understanding of labour law at the level of the EU.

ISBN:978-1-107-04174-5

Publication year:2013

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Authors from:Higher Education