Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Professor John Wilton
Lecture 5b
Labour mobility and employment policy in the E.U.

Lecture 5b
Additional sources:
Copeland, P. and Haar, B. ‘A tootheless bite? The effectiveness of the European Employment Strategy
as a governance tool’, in Journal of European Social Policy, Vol. 23 no.1, Feb. 2013, pp.21-36.
Talani, L.S. European Political Economy. Political Science Perspectives, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2004
(Revised 2013), Ch.6 and Ch.7

Lecture 5b
 Is the growth of E.U. social policy a positive development?
- 2 possible answers:
(i) from the ‘right’ of the political spectrum – ‘free market liberals’
(ii) from the ‘left’ of the political spectrum – social democrats

Lecture 5b
(i)from the ‘right’ of the political spectrum – ‘free market liberals’
- development of E.U. social policy   counterproductive (dangerous!)
- constitutes a constraint on the functioning of the free-market
- plus = one element in growth of E.U. ‘superstate’ and large bureaucracy

Lecture 5b
(ii) from the ‘left’ of the political spectrum – social democrats
 - development of E.U. social policy is a positive and necessary development
- needed to protect E.U. citizens from worst excesses of free-market
 - plus, has economic gains for the market as assists in production of highly skilled,
well-trained, well educated workforce

Lecture 5b

•E.U. labour and employment policy
• a) the ‘acceptable core’
•      - i.e. health and safety, training,
• and ‘free movement of labour’ (until recently)
• b) the ‘disputed extended areas’
•      i.e. working conditions, employment rights

Lecture 5b
‘Free movement of labour’
- Art. 48 to 51 Treaty of Rome,    1957 established right of freedom of mobility for workers
(excluded public sector workers)

Lecture 5b
1974 to 1976 Social Action Programme:
- encouraged creation of common vocational training, and employment and social protection policies
- plus a social action programme for migrant workers and their families (for EEC and non-EEC
nationals)

Lecture 5b
-1985 White Paper on Completing the Single Market
-1987 Single European Act
-1988 Social Dimension initiative of the E.C. Commission
- all moved policy on ‘freedom of   movement of labour’ forward

Lecture 5b
‘Social Dimension of the Internal Market’
 ‘ Social policy must, above all, contribute to the setting up of a “single labour market” by doing
away with the barriers which still restrict the effective exercise of two basic freedoms: the
freedom of movement of persons and the freedom of establishment.’
(European Commission, 1988, p.2-3)

Lecture 5b
1988 Social Charter
- freedom of movement (first ‘social right’)
- encouraged harmonisation of conditions of residence
- encouraged mutual recognition of occupational qualifications
- included requirement of improvement of living and working conditions of immigrant workers

Lecture 5b
1997 Treaty of Amsterdam
- Art.62 demanded that within 5 years the E.U. Council of Ministers should adopt “measures with a
view to ensuring … the absence of any controls on persons, be they citizens of the Union or
nationals of third countries, when crossing internal borders”.

Lecture 5b
•Since May 2004 the application of one of founding principles of  EEC in 1957 Treaty of Rome – on
free movement of labour - has been varied:
• a) between Member states (different approaches, different application of regulations);
• b) within policy areas/sectors

Lecture 5b
•Phases in E.U. labour mobility and employment policy:
•Phase 1 – 1950s ‘recovery’ – ‘economic’ concerns dominant – ‘social’ subordinate
•Phase 2 – late 1950s/1960s ‘boom’ – ‘economic’ and ‘political’ concerns dominant – ‘social’
concerns expedient

Lecture 5b
•Phases in E.U. labour mobility and employment policy:
•Phase 3 – ‘recession’ 1970s/mid 1980s – ‘economic’/ ‘political’/‘cultural’ concerns dominant –
‘social’ concerns subordinate
•Phase 4 – ‘boom’ mid 1980s/mid 1990s – ‘economic’/‘political’/‘social’ concerns expedient

Lecture 5b
•Phases in E.U. labour mobility and employment policy:
•Phase 5 – ‘uncertainty’ late 1990s/2007 – ‘political’/‘social’/‘cultural’ concerns dominant –
‘economic’ concerns subordinate?
•Phase 6 – ‘uncertainty’ 2008 economic depression, Eurozone crisis, public sector and social policy
cuts, political (nationalist?) reaction?

Lecture 5b
•E.U. European Employment Strategy 2013
•http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=101&langId=en
-‘soft law’ mechanism (part of OMC) designed to co-ordinate employment policies of Member States.
-based on ‘Europe 2020 growth strategy’

Lecture 5b
•E.U. European Employment Strategy
-produced by the Commission, includes:
1)Employment guidelines
2)Joint employment report
3)National Reform Programmes
4)Country-specific recommendations
•- Linked to ‘Social Agenda 35 – Employment and Social Innovation’
•