ABSTRACT
The Nordic region as a homogenous entity in relation to social policy and the regulation of labour market relationships. Depending upon the national background, the extent of the freedom for private labour market actors to deviate from frameworks established by the legislator through statutory law mechanisms is seen in different terms. In many of the modern structures of the Nordic countries there is a societal balance which is reflected through representative bodies of one kind or another, so that, when European commission talk about employers' associations or trade unions. It is possible to identify a number of challenges currently facing the participants to the process of developing social policy for the new Europe. Several of those challenges have essentially the same characteristic – notably, a need to bridge a number of gaps. The challenge is to do everything possible to address the problems of advancing the construction of "Social Europe".
