Jacques Delors and the social dimension of European integration
Jacques Delors, trade union activist, French high government official, and three times President of the European Commission between 1985 and 1995, is widely regarded as the architect of the relaunch of European integration in the mid-1980s. His vision for the future of Europe included a strong social dimension, which should have balanced and sustained the project of further economic integration. Scholars still debate the results and long-term consequences of this strategy, reflecting over the concept of Social Europe and the meaning of complex and intertwined issues like subsidiarity, industrial democracy and social participation. Delors’ initiatives nonetheless left a lasting mark in the history of European integration, setting the stage for future developments in the European Union such as collective negotiations between employer organisations and trade unions in the 1990s.
First steps of social dialogue
Delors and his advisers promoted a stronger engagement of social partners at European level. The Commission aimed to facilitate a lasting dialogue between workers’ and employers’ representative organisations, as this would also support its broader integration project. The following quotes from Jacques Delors and the Commission’s Director General of Social Affairs Jean Degimbe address the early steps of the launch of social dialogue. Their recollections are slightly different, testifying to the subjective nature of personal memories, and shedding light on the internal dynamics of a multifaceted administration such as the European Commission.
"J’ai téléphoné à l’Organisation patronale européenne et la Confédération européenne des syndicats, et je leur ai dit : 'Je vous donne rendez-vous mi-janvier à Val-Duchesse pour démarrer un vrai dialogue social !' Alors là, même mes meilleurs collaborateurs m’ont dit : 'On ne parie pas un écu sur votre succès !' "
Source: Interview of Jacques Delors by Piers Ludlow on 11 March 2011 / HAEU, INT142.
Image Source: Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission. Photo: Unknown author / European Commission Audiovisual Service, P-005768/02-16A. Copyright European Communities, 1985.
Jacques Delors (FR)
President of the European Commission 1985-1995
“Delors m’a dit : 'Je veux faire une réunion dès que j’arrive et puis vous verrez bien'. Et c’est comme ça que ça a commencé. Effectivement, Delors est arrivé en janvier 1985 et dans les semaines qui ont suivi, on a organisé des rencontres avec les dirigeants des partenaires sociaux, le président des syndicats européens et celui du patronat européen. Avec en plus à cette époque-là, le président des organisations publiques.".
Source: Interview of Jean Degimbe by Lorenzo Mecchi on 16 February 2016 / HAEU, INT1002.
Image Source: Jean Degimbe, Director-General of Social Affairs, European Commission. Photo: Unknown author / European Commission Audiovisual Service, P-006113/02-7A. Copyright European Communities, 1986.
Jean Degimbe (BE)
European Commission - Director General of DG V – Employment and Social Affairs 1976-1992
Early initiatives
The launch of European social dialogue by the Delors’ Commission did not happen in a void. In 1984, one year before Delors took office, the successive French and Irish Council Presidencies organised informal meetings with selected social partner representatives at the Belgian castle of Val Duchesse. The first meeting took place on 28 February 1984, in the presence of the Council’s President Pierre Bérégovoy, the Commissioner for Social Affairs Ivor Richard and officials from ETUC and UNICE. In his opening speech, Bérégovoy stressed the need to prepare a “Community response” to the current economic, political and social problems, and discuss the organisation, “outside of any formal structure”, of social relations at Community level.
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European Commission, Réunion informelle avec des personnalités des partenaires sociaux, Val Duchesse, 28 février 1984 / Historical Archives of the European Commission, BAC 202/2004 128.
Portrait photo of Ivor Richard. Photo: Unknown author / European Commission Audiovisual Service, P-004804/02-9. Copyright European Communities, 1980.
This led to the Council’s endorsement of a “Community medium-term social action programme” in June 1984. The document adopted by the Council stated that “social policy must […] be developed at Community level on the same basis as economic, monetary and industrial policy”. The Commission was tasked with the programme’s implementation, including the examination of methods for strengthening European social dialogue. Delors’ initiative for social dialogue aligned with this task. It was not an easy task, however, as European institutions set the goal to integrate and harmonise national social policy regimes with different historical traditions and structures.
The social partners and the new European Commission
All three major social partner organisations – ETUC, UNICE and CEEP – positioned themselves vis-à-vis the new Commission headed by Jacques Delors, which was set to take office in January 1985. We can read their statements in the following gallery. UNICE highlighted the goal of developing a “realistic” social policy, with the input of social partners, that would not hamper growth with outdated social regulations. ETUC stressed the need to reinforce trade unions’ influence on Community policy, in particular by relaunching and enhancing social dialogue. CEEP also underlined the need to intensify and improve relations between social partners and European institutions. The three organisations were ready to take up Delors’ initiative and to meet at Val Duchesse only a few weeks after taking office.
Click images to enlarge →
UNICE, Memorandum for the new European Commission, 12 December 1984 / International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam), ETUC archives, box 2101.
Declaration adopted by ETUC Executive Committee, 6 and 7 November 1984 / International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam), ETUC archives, box 2101.
CEEP, ‘Déclaration du Centre europeen de l’enterprise publique a l’occasion du renouvellement de la Commission, Novembre 1984 / SGI Europe archives, Folder “Conseil Admin. – Assemblée Générale – Comité Délégués – Compte-rendu – 1983 à 1992”.
Meeting in Val Duchesse
In the following quote Carlo Savoini, a Commission official working in DG V (Employment and Social Affairs), recalls the first meeting between social partners under the Delors’ presidency, on 31 January 1985. The interview is taken from the HAEU oral history programme, which houses the voices of more than 900 European politicians and officials.
"Si presenta (Jacques Delors) con due punti all' ordine del giorno: I'azione concertata, e il dialogo tra Ie parti sociali. Per la prima volta riesce a fare adottare un testo comune fra Ie parti sociali. In materia di concertazione il tema e il programma di sviluppo economico concertato, dibattuto in un gruppo di lavoro creato ad hoc sotto la presidenza del Commissario Alois Pfeiffer, responsabile all'epoca degli Affari economici.".
Source: Interview of Carlo Savoini by M.G. Melchionni, 9 February 1998 / HAEU, INT594.
Image Source: "Social Policy in Europe", 1997 / HAEU, NDG-46-I.1.
Carlo Savoini (IT)
European Commission - responsible for Social Affairs and Industrial Relations of DG V 1984 - mid 1990s
The spectacular venue of the Val Duchesse castle hosted two summits between social partners in 1985 and eventually gave the name to the whole social dialogue initiative of the Delors’ Commission, often referred to as the Val Duchesse process. The symbolic relevance of the Belgian castle was confirmed in 2024, when a new “Val Duchesse Social Partners Summit” was convened by the European Commission chaired by Ursula von der Leyen and the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, 40 years after the first informal meeting. The participants agreed on a Declaration stating a renewed commitment to strengthen social dialogue at EU level. The historical context and the Commission’s political priorities, though, were quite different from the Delors’ years.
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