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Social Policy: the UK and Maastricht

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

Michael Gold
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Extract

On 7 February 1992, European Community Foreign and Finance Ministers signed the Treaty on European Union which contains only the second set of constitutional amendments to the EEC Treaty since 1957. This new Treaty merged into one text the Treaty on Economic and Monetary Union and the Treaty on Political Union which had been agreed at the European Council in Maastricht two months previously.

Type
Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 139 , February 1992 , pp. 95 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

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References

Notes

(1) Treaty on European Union, reproduced as a supplement to Europe, 7 February 1992.

(2) Communication from the Commission concerning its Action Programme relating to Implementation of the Community Charter of Basic Social Rights for Workers, COM (89) 568, Commission of the EC, Brussels, 27 November 1989. For a commentary, see ‘Social Charter—Action Programme released’, European Industrial Relations Review, no.192, January 1990, p. 11.

(3) ‘Maastricht battle lines drawn on social policy’, The Independent, 9 December 1991, p.1.

(4) ‘ECU likely to take over by 1999’, The Independent, 10 December 1991, p.1. In fact, Article 118(6) of the social chapter—which subsequently became Article 2(6) of the Agreement on social policy— specifically excludes ‘pay, the right of association, the right to strike or the right to impose lock-outs’ from its remit.

(5) Though Ireland and Portugal were also reported to share some of the UK's objections to the direction of EC social policy, their opposition was muted and negotiable.

(6) However, the precedent for a ‘two-speed Europe’ had been set in June 1990 when the Schengen Convention was signed by the Benelux countries, France, Germany and Italy (and since then by Portugal and Spain too). This Convention aims to facilitate free movement of people between the signatory states.

(7) All quotations from the Social Protocol are taken from the Treaty on European Union, op. cit.

(8) First Report on the Application of the European Community's Social Charter, Commission of the EC (London Office), 9 January 1992 (Press Release ISEC/B 1/92), p.3.

(9) Though will Commissioners be able to agree about when the principle of subsidiarity should actually apply? ‘The answers are political, with each Commissioner logically able to surround himself with opinions, legal and other.’ Europe, 25 January 1992, p.1.

(10) Articles 1 to 7 of the Agreement on social policy annexed to the Social Protocol contain the amended versions of Articles 117 to 122 of the social chapter originally intended by the Dutch presidency for inclusion in the Treaty on Political Union. Readers who would like to compare the Agreement with the existing social provisions in the EEC Treaty should bear in mind that Article 1 of the Agreement would have replaced Article 117 of the EEC Treaty; Article 2 would have replaced Article 118; Article 3-Article 118a; Article 4-Article 118b; Article 5-Article 118c; Article 6-Article 119; Article 7-Article 122. Articles 120 and 121 of the EEC Treaty, which cover paid holiday schemes and procedural matters relating in particular to migrant workers, would have been deleted altogether.

(11) See, for example, ‘The proposed Directive on informing and consulting employees’ in People, Jobs and Progress, a fact-pack published by the Employment Department in December 1991, pp.11-12.

(12) The Week, European Parliament, 9-13 December 1991, p.28.

(13) ‘The ‘social’ side after Maastricht—boomerang for London?' Europe, 16/17 December 1991, p.1.

(14) In Denmark three political parties have already announced that they will recommend a ‘no’ vote in the referendum due to take place on 2 June 1992: the People's Socialist Party, the Christian Democrat Party and the extreme-right Party of Progress. The People's Socialist Party, which obtains around 10% electoral support, criticises the Treaty for deficiencies in the social dimension and environmental protection. Europe, 20/21 January 1992, p.3.

(15) The European Parliament's Committee on Social Affairs, Employment and the Working Environment is drawing up a report on the consequences of the Maastricht summit for EC social policy. At the Committee's meeting on 19 December 1991, MEPs stated that the Protocol ‘could cause major legal problems’. Europe, 20 December 1991, p.13.

(16) This point was developed by Nicole Buron MEP, a member of the European Parliament's social affairs committee, at its meeting on 24 January 1992. Europe, 25 January 1992, p.11.

(17) ‘Mr Martins calls for a ‘solution by the twelve’ in the social sector’, Europe, 31 January 1992, page 15.

(18) Duncan Matthews, ‘The 1986 UK Presidency: an assessment of its impact on social policy initiatives’, NIESR, January 1992 (unpublished paper).

(19) This point was developed by Willem van Velzen MEP, Chair of the European Parliament's social affairs committee,who, in an open letter to John Major, wrote: ‘…the often repeated statement by British negotiators that they were not alone in their opposition to a European social policy has now been proved totally wrong’. Europe, 19 December 1991, p.11.

(20) ‘Maastricht, where Major made his big mistake'’, The Independent, 13 December 1991, p.21.

(21) ‘Costs and the competitive value of products depend on many factors, including available resources, the price of raw materials, investment, labour productivity, the tax system, available markets etc, in addition to labour costs. The countries which are most successful in world markets are not always those where labour standards are less favourable.’ Bob Hepple, ‘Harmonisation of labour law in the European Communities’, in Essays for Clive Schmitthoff, ed. John Adams, Professional Books: Abingdon (1983), p. 16.

(22) Amended Proposal for a Council Directive on the establishment of a European Works Council in Community-scale undertakings or groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and consulting employees, COM(91)345 Final, Commission of the EC, Brussels (adopted September 1991).

(23) See People, Jobs and Progress, Employment Department, op.cit.

(24) Some companies would attempt to establish their own participation structures. The British Institute of Management, which criticised the UK Government for its ‘carping attitude’ over the social chapter, has at the same time also called for greater flexibility in EC policy on participation. The draft European Works Council Directive ‘would create an additional structural tier, instead of allowing organisations to develop the form of employee involvement most suited to their circumstances’. Quoted in IRS Employment Trends, no. 503, January 1992, page 4.

(25) The centrality of the statutorily-based works council in German workplace industrial relations is undisputed: see for example, ‘Germany—industrial relations background’, in European Industrial Relations Review, no. 216, January 1992, pp. 21-27; and Anat Arkin, ‘At work in the powerhouse of Europe: personnel management in Germany’, in Personnel Management, February 1992, pp. 32-35.

(26) According to managers already involved in European-level information and consultation arrangements, the exchange of views and opinions and the explanation of corporate strategy and restructuring intentions are some of the benefits to be derived from these meetings. See Michael Gold and Mark Hall, European-level Information and Consultation in Multi national Companies: an Evaluation of Practice, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin (1992), page 39.

(27) Consultation and Communication: the 1990 ACAS Survey, Occasional Paper no. 49, ACAS, London, 1991, page 21.