ABSTRACT
European Community policy making in the social field is currently characterised by the co-existence and entanglement of governmental negotiations and collective bargaining. The issue of introducing works councils at European level was the first instance to be discussed using the Social Protocol as a legal basis. The parental leave deal had shown that the post-Maastricht social policy provisions were indeed operational, although the issue of parental leave was one which had been considered rather uncontroversial. The exclusive labour law focus of recent European agreements is also due to the exclusion of social security measures which were treated as belonging to the exclusive realm of the Council. In the longer run, therefore, the involvement of organised labour and industry at the European level could become less powerful but much broader both in overall terms, and when compared to the corporatist policy community which characterised European Union social policy in the 1990s.
