Abstract

This chapter analyzes European social policy as a test case to comment on both the originality and the weakness of a unique supranational legal order, such as the one created in 1957 with the Treaty of Rome. Regulatory measures in social policy, related to equal treatment, nondiscrimination, and working conditions were implemented via hard law measures aiming at the harmonization of standards. The chapter also looks at the latest innovations in social policy brought about by the Lisbon Treaty. Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) mentions full employment among the objectives to be pursued in a social market economy. The economic and financial crisis has accentuated the problems of supranational coordination versus national initiatives and has given rise to exceptional austerity actions that have departed from the methods provided for in the treaty.