ABSTRACT
The social policy of the European Community has, since its inception in the mid- 1950s, ‘enjoyed’ a second class status in the scheme of Community law and policy. ‘Social policy’, in a sense often understood in the United Kingdom as being equated primarily to welfare policy, barely warrants a mention within the Treaty. Moving from the minutiae of recent developments to the broader picture of remaining problems, it is necessary to test further the explanation that there is no ‘need’ for further extensive Community social law legislation. The fundamental problem with a ‘citizenship’ discourse in relation to European integration is that historical reality does not accord with constitutional rhetoric. The Community legal system provides a comprehensive framework of protection against labour market discrimination on grounds of sex, although the regime of welfare equality is much less well developed. The history of Community social policy has included spasms of optimism that a coherent system of Community social law might emerge.
