PAPERS Trade Unions and the Politics of the European Social Model

There is a consensus among European trade unions that economic integration should be complemented by a strong ‘social dimension’. What is far less clearly agreed is what ‘social Europe ’ means, and how it should be defended against the challenges inherent in a neoliberal approach to economic integration, the dominant logic of ‘competitiveness ’ and the pressures for ‘modernization ’ of social welfare. Unions ’ ability to resist these challenges is weakened by their integration into an elitist system of EU governance in which mobilization and contention are inhibited. The article concludes that a new mode of trade union action is required if the ‘social model ’ is to be sustained