The Single Market project
The cornerstone of the Delors Commission’s vision for the future of Europe was the Single Market project. Its goal was to ensure the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people (known as the four freedoms) within the European Communities and remains central to today's European Union. The goal of creating a Single Market within the Community was formalized by the Single European Act (SEA), signed by the then twelve Member States in 1986. This act, which constituted the first revision of the founding Treaties, determined that the Single Market should be achieved by the end of 1992. At the same time, the Delors Commission also envisioned the development of a European social dialogue to accompany EU economic integration and its ambition of liberalization. This initiative aimed at strengthening democracy by giving social partners a role in regulating the European economy.
Until the 1980s, the contacts and negotiations of social partners were often seen as fostering democratic participation in the economy. In this perspective, collective bargaining is seen as a means of democratic representation in the economy that operates in parallel to representative democracy in national Parliaments. Yet forty years later, we might consider whether – and to what extent – the push for economic integration has been matched by progress in the social and democratic dimensions of the European project.
The Single European Act
As part of a broader commitment to enhancing economic and social cohesion and reducing disparities between European regions, the 1986 SEA expanded the European Communities’ powers for social policy. In particular, Article 118a committed Member States to improving the health and safety of workers, setting the objective of harmonising national legislation in this field. Article 118b empowered the Commission to facilitate dialogue between trade unions and employer organisations at the European level, potentially leading to agreements. In other words, while social dialogue was still a work in progress, its promotion had already been incorporated into primary law, that is the legal texts that form the constitutional basis of the EC/EU. This incorporation owes much to Commission initiatives in the SEA negotiations. This illustrates the close nexus between institutional initiative and trust-building among social partners that would enable the emergence of European social dialogue in the late 1980s and 1990s.
The social partners evaluated the signing of the Single European Act positively, as it aligned with their long-term goals and strategies. UNICE praised the course toward the single market, while ETUC emphasized the significant expansion of the Communities’ powers and responsibilities in various policy areas, including social policy. According to CEEP, the SEA gave a "considerable impetus to the construction of Europe."
The Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers
Three years after the SEA another milestone for European social policy and social dialogue was reached. At the Strasbourg European Council (8-9 December 1989), 11 out of 12 Member States (except for the UK) approved the Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers. Though legally non-binding, the Charter became a useful push for the development of European social dialogue as it laid the foundations for EU regulation in the social field and, in particular, the 1990 Social Action Programme proposed by the European Commission. The 1989 Charter laid out principles of a European social model, including freedom of movement and association, social protection, health and safety in the workplace, and equal treatment for women and men. Furthermore, it committed the signatories to developing social dialogue at the European level. This Charter thus created political impetus towards social integration, which led Member States, EU institutions, and European social partners to position themselves on these issues.
Initiatives like the 1989 Social Charter and the 1990 Social Action Programme were the result of a compromise between different views within European institutions. This interview of European Commission official Patrick Venturini gives us an insight into the preparatory stages of the Community Charter.
"Je peux vous dire que le matin même de la plénière qui devait examiner le projet final de charte au Comité économique et social, le représentant de l’UNICE, l’organisation européenne des entreprises était venu au sein du groupe des employeurs du Comité pour expliquer pourquoi il fallait voter contre ce projet. Toujours est-il que le Comité a adopté ce projet et pour la grande histoire, le président du Comité à l’époque était François Staedelin qui était un syndicaliste CFDT qui était de la famille culturelle politique de Jacques Delors et quelqu’un de très proche de Delors. La CFDT a joué un rôle important là-dedans. Pourquoi est-ce que je dis ça parce que c’était très important qu’une assemblée, une institution au niveau européen, composée des partenaires sociaux et des autres représentants de la société civile européenne, montre qu’un projet de charte consensuel était possible, était réalisable. La grande critique que l’on entendait, c’était que cette charte n’allait jamais prendre l’air, n’allait jamais voler. Or, le Comité, en adoptant son avis montrait qu’il pouvait y avoir un consensus sur un sujet controversé. Sur le plan politique, c’était un levier extrêmement fort."
Source: Interview of Patrick Venturini by Virginie de Moriamé and Sophie Kaisin on 20 October 2016 / HAEU, INT1153.
Image Source: Slide of an informative sequence about the European Economic Community, 1981 - 1986 / HAEU, NDG-511-I.15.
Patrick Venturini (FR)
European Commission - Adviser to the Director-General of DG V - Employment and Social Affairs 1995 - 1998
Implementing social dialogue
By the early 1990s, the three European trade unions and employers’ organisations involved in the Val Duchesse process had become more actively involved with the European Communities’ policy-making. Through the European social dialogue process which included regular high-level meetings as well as deep, thematic work, these social partners developed a better understanding of each other’s goals and negotiation methods. Although they had not yet achieved significant practical outcomes, the social partners set up working groups for discussion on various important topics often related to economic change, including the macroeconomic situation and new technologies. These regular contacts led to trust-building necessary for later collective bargaining.
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