ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the external role of the European Union (EU) in social affairs and, in particular, labour law. Traditionally, due to its restricted competence in the social sphere, EU engagement in this aspect of external relations was extremely limited. Indeed, such matters were understood to lie within the prerogative of individual EU Member States. For example, the European Commission has long had a voice at the International Labour Conference (ILC) of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and has sought to coordinate the policy positions of EU Member States. Yet the capacity to vote on ILO adoption of Conventions and Recommendations at the ILC lies outside EU competence, and is in the hands not only of representatives of the individual governments of EU Member States, but also employer and worker representatives from those countries. Nonetheless, EU external influence in the social policy domain has gradually been extended as a facet of its competence in trade and development policy. Through these methods, the Union can be considered to be exercising normative power internationally in the field of social policy. The first part of this chapter examines the range of ‘means’ at the EU’s disposal, that is, its legal mechanisms for the exercise of such power.
