The conclusions of the European summits since 1992 and the content of the Amsterdam Treaty seem to imply that the employment issue has finally reached the Community agenda. How far does the new approach differ from previous policy? How were the changes of the 1990s achieved? This article reviews previous EU social policy as regards employment issues, then analyses the different elements of the European employment strategy (EES) and offers a preliminary assessment. A major question addressed is how, compared to previous regulation methods, this new process is likely to affect the legitimacy and efficiency of `Social Europe'.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Barbier, J.C.
(1998) `A la recherche de la politique europeenne de l'emploi, Cahiers du Centre d'Etudes de l'Emploi37: 357-380.
2.
Coldrick, P.
(1995) Speech to ETUI-ETUI conference on `The Future of the European Union: The Trade Unions' Demands and Expectations for the IGC 1996', Madrid, 16-17 November.
3.
Falkner, G.
(1998) EU Social Policy in the 1990s: Towards a Corporatist Policy Community. London: Routledge.
4.
Foden, D.
(1998) `Amsterdam and After: Europe's Emerging Employment Policy', in E. Gabaglio and R. Hoffman (eds) European Trade Union Yearbook 1997, pp. 215-245. Brussels: ETUI.
5.
Goetschy, J.
(1998) `L'emploi et le social dans le traite d'Amsterdam: rattrapage, consolidation ou percee?', in M. Telo and P. Magnette (eds) De Maastricht a Amsterdam: I'Europe et son nouveau traite, pp. 139-163. Paris: Editions Complexe.
6.
Greenwood, J.
(1997) Representing Interests in the EU. London: Macmillan.
7.
Haas, E.
(1964) Beyond the Nation-State: Functionalism and International Organization. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
8.
Marks, G.
, Scharpf, F.W., Schmitter, P.C. and Streeck, W. (1996) Governance in the European Union. London: Sage.
9.
Streeck, W.
(1995) `From Market to State Building? Reflections on the Political Economy of European Social Policy', in S. Leibfried and P. Pierson (eds) European Social Policy: Between Fragmentation and Integration, pp. 389-431. New York: Brookings.
10.
Streeck, W.
(1998) `The Internationalization of Industrial Relations in Europe: Prospects and Problems', paper to the IIRA congress, Dublin, September.
11.
Visser, J.
(1998) `La concertation: art de conclure des pactes sociaux', ETUC seminar `Our Europe', May.
12.
Wessels, W.
(1997) `An Ever Closer Fusion: A Dynamic Macropolitical View on Integration Processes', Journal of Common Market Studies35(2): 267-299.
