European social policy between supranaional and national autonomy : the example of the regulations on posted workers

Abstract

"European social policy has two dimensions: the relationship between liberalized market freedoms and social protection on the one hand, and the distribution of regulatory competencies between the supranational and the national level on the other. The posted workers issue shows how both dimensions interacted in bringing about a pattern of national and supranational regulation that might provide a model for future social regulation in the EU. In several member states, market-modifying measures were introduced according to preestablished European laws. However, the substance of these diverging regulatory acts was affected by institutional and polifical factors in each member state. National regulations pre-empted the effects of subsequent supranational market modification, making it possible for a European directive to be adopted after many years of deadlock in the Council of Ministers. But this directive allows national regulations to remain in place with hardly any changes, and it safeguards national autonomy regarding decisions on the substance of binding labor law to be applied. The supranational measure can be described as an 'umbrella---that protects national market modification by means of European law without interfering with the institutional arrangements or the political disputes in the member states." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Eichhorst, W. (1999): Europäische marktgestaltende Politik zwischen Supranationalität und nationaler Autonomie. Das Beispiel der Entsenderichtlinie. In: Industrielle Beziehungen, Vol. 6, No. 3, p. 340-359.