The European Social Charter and the European Union
Résumé
The chapter explores the complex and often uneasy relationship between the European Social Charter (ESC) and the European Union (EU). Although all EU Member States have ratified either the 1961 or the Revised ESC, the EU itself is not a party to it, leading to a fragmented and non-hierarchical coexistence between the two legal orders. The chapter analyses textual, legislative, and case law interactions, demonstrating that while the ESC has influenced EU social rights instruments, most notably the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Pillar of Social Rights, its legal and political relevance within EU law remains limited. The study includes two detailed case studies. The first examines the conflict between internal market freedoms and social rights, focusing on the Laval judgment and its clash with the ESC’s protection of collective action and equal treatment. The second addresses austerity policies in Greece, where ESC bodies condemned measures imposed under EU-driven memoranda for violating core social rights such as fair remuneration, social security, and collective bargaining. Ultimately, I conclude that while the ESC and EU legal systems share a common social ambition, their institutional disconnect produces recurrent tensions, reflecting broader struggles between economic integration and social protection in Europe
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