At the beginnings of social Europe: from 1958 to 1999

(B2) If the development of social policies, at Community level, has undoubtedly experienced less visible progress than the policies of economic harmonization, its big sisters, its rise to power is no less real. When it was signed in 1957, the Treaty of Rome contained few articles that specifically concerned social policy. He nevertheless laid down two postulates which will serve as the foundations for subsequent advances and symbolize two different approaches.

Firstly, the free movement of workers is elevated to the rank of a fundamental principle of Community law. The European Treaty thus provides for “the abolition of all discrimination, based on nationality, between workers of the Member States, as regards employment, remuneration and other working conditions. » In fact, Community employees must be fully integrated into the social life of the host country, both in terms of working conditions and remuneration, as well as social and fiscal advantages or access to education, for them themselves or their families. This right also extends, under certain conditions, to the unemployed. Job seekers can thus "respond to jobs actually offered, move freely for this purpose within the territory of the Member States, reside in one of the Member States in order to work there in accordance with the laws, regulations and administrative governing the employment of national workers, to remain, under conditions which will be the subject of implementing regulations drawn up by the Commission, in the territory of a Member State, after having been employed there". Only limitations justified by reasons of public order, public security and public health allow exceptions to this rule.

Secondly, to avoid any distortion of competition between companies in the Member States, Europe will promote the establishment of common labor standards. Otherwise, as summarized by François Gaudu, professor at the University of Paris X, "companies in countries whose social systems are the least protective of employees, or in any case generate the lowest costs, would be favoured, at least in the short term. term”. This is the objective of a series of directives enacted from the 1970s.

In 1975, the directive of February 10 laid down the principle of equal pay between male and female workers: “For equal value, women and men must receive equal pay”. This principle implemented in a directive of February 9, 1976 and, above all, will give rise to important case law from the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ). Indeed, the community judge “does not stop at the appearance of a legally egalitarian situation” analyzes Jean-Guy Huglo, referendum adviser at the Court of Cassation. It tracks hidden inequalities or indirect discrimination, with an economic tool: statistics. For the Court, “there is indirect discrimination when the application of a measure, although formulated in a neutral way, in fact disadvantages a much higher percentage of women than of men”.
Also in 1975, a directive of February 17 — amended in 1992 and 1998 — defined the rules for preventing collective dismissals, in particular with consultation with the unions and information from the public authorities. Two years later, in 1977, the directive of February 14 ensures workers the maintenance of their rights in the event of transfers of companies, establishments or parts. Finally, in 1980, to deal throughout the European Union with the insolvency of the employer, the directive of October 20 enacts a guarantee of payment of unpaid debts of employees under certain conditions.

Health and safety at work, one of the successes of European social policy

This legislative movement was to be significantly strengthened from 1986, with the entry into force of the Single European Act which gave new impetus to social policy. First of all, there is the important directive of June 12, 1989 which defines a general framework for health and safety in the workplace. On this subject, about thirty directives were then adopted. This policy, which in everyone's opinion is “one of the successes of European social policy”, has enabled France to remedy on certain points the shortcomings of its own legislation by introducing new guarantees for workers. It has also generalized at European level certain national rules such as, for example, the integration of the concept of safety from the machine design stage or the introduction of an obligation to check the most dangerous machines in advance.

In the years that followed, a series of directives were published which set out to lay down the outlines of a European labor code. The directive of October 14, 1991 thus imposed compulsory writing for the conclusion of an employment contract in both months following hiring. In 1993, the directive of November 23 defined a common terminology in terms of working time. A harmonized definition of rest periods, night work or shift work has thus been adopted at European level. In 1994, a directive of June 22 harmonises the working conditions of those under 18 years old. On September 22 of the same year, the establishment of a European works council or a procedure for informing and consulting workers was made compulsory in all Community companies with at least 1000 employees. This device is, in itself, original because it leaves a lot of room for company negotiation, the European standard having vocation to apply only in the absence of agreement between the social partners. Finally, in 1996, the directive on the posting of workers was adopted, which partly solved the thorny problem of social dumping in the context of the provision of services. When a company from one Member State comes to work in another with its own workers, it must then
s respect a hard core of mandatory protection rules.

The Treaty of Maastricht, in 1993, gave new impetus to social policy. Alongside the Economic and Monetary Union that it put in place and which resulted, a few years later, in the single currency, this text was accompanied by a protocol on social policy which established a new possibility of progress social. Indeed, it empowers the social partners to enact the rules themselves (see below). This possibility made it possible to sign several agreements which will then be transposed into European texts: on parental leave in 1996, part-time work in June 1997 and fixed-term contracts in March 1999.

With the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1999, the question of employment burst into Community competence, becoming a “question of common interest”. One objective is clearly enshrined in the Treaty: to achieve “a high level of employment” without weakening competitiveness. For this, a coordinated strategy was born, drawn up during the extraordinary summit on employment, in Luxembourg in November 1997. An important step forward which made Allan Larsson, former director general for employment at the European Commission, say,
that “Amsterdam and Luxembourg represented two breakthroughs which gave employment and social policy a new role in the development of Europe. Every year, in fact, common guidelines are drawn up by the European Commission, then broken down and adapted by each Member State in a national action plan for employment (now renamed National Reform Plan); the results are then evaluated in a joint report on employment carried out by the European Commission and the Council of Ministers of the EU.

(NGV)