ABSTRACT
Introduction The enlargement process has created a larger and more diverse European SM, and this has potentially far-reaching consequences, not only for individual member states (both established and newer entrants), but also for the sustainable development of a Social Europe as a whole. For example, has enlargement effectively ended the conception of creating a single, homogenous European labour market, complete with identical labour regulation and social protection, or will the NMS rapidly converge towards this norm? If not, then are existing differences in social provision and labour protection an example of unacceptable ‘social dumping’, whereby states seek to gain a cost advantage within a SM by beggar-thy-neighbour competition for the lowest value placed on workers and citizens, or is it a natural reflection of states at different levels of economic development needing to maintain international competitiveness through a lower wage economy? These are fundamental questions which need to be satisfactorily answered before the future development of the ESM can be accurately predicted.
