ABSTRACT
EU social policy-making is knee-deep in controversy. One argument concerns the efficacy of EU interventions in European labour markets. The supportive view is that EU social policies are required so that citizens of the member-states are properly integrated into economic life. By contrast, advocates of neo-liberal Europe suggest that EU labour market rules only intensify the already big rigidities in national employment systems. Another disagreement relates to the characterisation of EU social policy. Some argue that the EU is slowly building a social constitution, which in the end will establish a Europewide floor of employment rights. Others are less upbeat, regarding the social policy regime in Brussels as weak and fragmented, unable to meaningfully restrain the action of either employers or trade unions. Thus, an ill-sorted set of views exists about the form, impact and future direction of EU social policy.
