SCORE

It has been argued that if one accepts T. H. Marshall’s definition of social policy as the political power to supersede, supplement or modify operations of the economic system in order to achieve results which the economic system would not achieve on its own, then ‘Social Europe ’ already exists. Redistribution among regions (through structural funds) and between sectors (through CAP) is taking place within the EU framework (Pierson and Liebfried 1995: 3). However, there is no automatic spill-over from structural funds to a social policy based on the principle of citizen entitlement.1 Social policy in this sense has instead evolved from the creation of employment-related entitlements for workers, including social security and safety standards as well as rights to collective bargaining and representation (Streeck 1995: 397). Accordingly, social policy within the EU has developed mainly in relation to the internal market and then more in order to facilitate its functioning than to correct it (cf the corrective function of the national welfare states). The existing regulation has developed primarily in order to facilitate and encourage labour mobility, and regulation has then been based on the notion of equal treatment. The steps taken are in themselves far-reaching: no Member State can any longer limit social benefits to its own citizens (Liebfried and Pierso