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Aims to trace the legal bases for the protection of fundamental rights in the European Community and the European Union, but looks here at internal policy only. Though there was no basis in the Treaty of Rome (1957) for human rights, the European Court of Justice has declared that fundamental human rights are enshrined in the general principles of Community law and thereby protected by the Court. Investigates the Charter, in full, herein

Sovereignty retains considerable currency today insofar as it fuses ordinary understandings of the state, the nation, and democracy. Against widespread expectations, however, the European Union has increasingly harnessed sovereignty as a source of vitality. We are thus witnessing a mainstreaming of populist politics, as the rhetoric of sovereignty no longer disqualifies new EU institutions and policies. This can be better understood if we consider sovereignty, from a constructivist perspective, as an evolving set of practices. First, sovereignty evolves within political and administrative circles, as European officials act to modify longstanding practices of state sovereignty. Second, sovereignty evolves in an increasingly politicized context, as political leaders dramatize EU crises in order to mobilize coalitions around new practices of popular sovereignty. This dual dynamic of state sovereignty and popular sovereignty is demonstrated in the case of the Eurozone and then extrapolated to the current trajectory of the EU polity against the benchmark of US federalism after the Civil War. An open question is whether sovereignty practices in the European Union will continue to evolve without compromising the Union's cosmopolitan and liberal objectives.

The European Union (EU) is not a state, though it has some statelike attributes; it is not an empire, though it includes many former European imperial powers; and it is not a federation, though Euro-federalists seek to make it one. There is, however, no need to argue that the Union is a singularity, nor to invent novel terminology, such as that deployed by “neo-functionalists” and “intergovernmentalists” to capture its legal and political form. The EU is a confederation, but with consociational characteristics in its decision-making styles. This conceptualization facilitates understanding and helps explain the patterns of crises within the Union.

EU social policy is perhaps the most controversial aspect of European integration yet, despite all the political clashes on the matter, concepts like “social Europe” or “social dimension” remain ill‐defined and imprecise terms. Intends to outline and clarify in detail the debate about whether or not the European Union should have competence with regard to labour market affairs. A key message is that social policy has been controversial because it has become embroiled in the debate about the future political direction of the EU. In particular, three contrasting political models –symbiotic integration, integrative federalism and neo‐liberalism – have been put forward as organizing principles for the EU and each has a coherent view of what form social policy should take at the European level. It is the clash between these three models that has caused EU social policy to be so contestable and intractable.

In a globalised economy, the EU, being self-confident, could shape international standards by defending and promoting its own socioeconomic model. Social democratic parties rhetorically confess the need for a ‘European social model’, but meanings and ways to achieve it differ largely. In a comparative case study on the programmatic positioning of the German Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands and the Spanish Partido Socialista Obrero Español, the parties' perspectives on the integration mode and their handling of the Economic and Monetary Union framework and its crisis over the last decade are traced. Although similar paths from neoliberal convictions of the ‘third way’ to a positive integration process in a fiscal union setting are found, the scope and levels vary, illustrating the abilities of both parties to meet new transnational challenges. The crisis of the Eurozone was a definitive turning point for the positioning of the Social Democrats in Spain in favour of more political and fiscal integration. In contrast, their German comrades already advocated increased social integration of the EU since 2005 but remained very cautious regarding reforms of the economic framework established by the Eurozone.

This article aims to analyse the development of the concept of social dialogue in the UK as it has been encouraged by the European Union vision of social democracy. The starting points for the discussion are articles 27 and 28 of the Character of Fundamental Rights of the European Union on information and consultation and collective bargaining and collective agreements, respectively.

The European context for developments is followed by a historical sketch of the topics included in the discussion. Analysis and evaluation is then presented of the evolving concept of social partnership and the traditional forms of “social dialogue” in the UK – collective bargaining and collective agreements; trade union recognition for collective bargaining; disclosure of information for collective bargaining purpose. Some former collective bargaining systems are also included in the analysis.

The focus of the discussion is the influence of European law on information and consultation in three discreet areas – the transfer of undertakings; collective redundancies and health and safety at work. The general conclusion is that the discreet notions of social dialogue which emanate from the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union spell good laws, good governance and effective democracy.

The article analyses the development of the concept of social dialogue.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the situation of workers' rights in the context of European Works Councils (EWCs) in the metalworking sector.

The paper examines the preconditions, forms and patterns of trade union transnational coordination under the regime of cross‐border competition and, in particular, its transnational implications for employment regulation in multinationals in Europe. The paper is based on evidence from the metal sector at the European Union level in the direction of establishing a framework for transnational bargaining at company level in Europe.

The paper argues that workers' representation rights at the European level (EWCs) and their resources can be very important in supporting the trade unions' bargaining activity in a situation of cross‐border negotiation in multinational companies. In the absence of a legal framework, the very recent engagement by the European trade union movement to coordinate bargaining across borders, while stipulating agreements at the European company level (European Framework Agreements) for common regulatory purposes, represents a “necessary” and “essential” – although not “sufficient” condition – for transnational collective bargaining.

The paper ties the formation of EWCs to the early European project of a “social Europe”.

In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still be covered by the Act if she were employed on like work in succession to the man? This is the question which had to be solved in Macarthys Ltd v. Smith. Unfortunately it was not. Their Lordships interpreted the relevant section in different ways and since Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome was also subject to different interpretations, the case has been referred to the European Court of Justice.

Hungarians’ degree of knowledge of the EU has been increasing over the years, despite the mainly sovereignty-based and Eurosceptic political communication and related political and media narratives in the last 10 years. Still, whereas Hungarians tend to be familiar with factual information on the European Union, they face more challenges trying to figure out how the EU actually works. This is related to the scarcity of this type of information both in public education and the media, which can obstruct not only the adequate understanding of how the European Union functions, but also the support for its policies. The objective of this chapter is to examine how the EU-related content is taught in Hungarian educational system. The discussion covers teaching in primary, secondary and tertiary education. The investigation is based on document analysis, such as the National Core Curricula, secondary school textbooks, baccalaureate topics, as well as completion and exit requirements for bachelor and master programs of higher education institutions.