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In the 20 th century, the social component of the EU had a clear, albeit highly distinctive, profile when contrasted with definitions of social policy at national level. It focused mainly on improving and protecting the rights of workers, both in the market integration project per se as freely-moving workers and job-seekers and in protecting workers' rights, including centrally the rights of women not to be discriminated against at work. High member state consensus (with just one outlier member state after 1979), empowered and adept supranational policy entrepreneurs in the European Commission, 1 and judicial dialogue via the preliminary reference procedure, 2 led to a worker-focused social acquis, a focus on the social partners and a Charter in 1989 exclusively focused on the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers. We might call this Social Europe for Workers. Such a focus was an essential part of underpinning the legitimacy of the EU project and EU institutional actors. Introducing a special issue of the Common Market Law Review in 1977 on Social Europe, Michael Shanks, Commission Director-General for Social Affairs between 1973 and 1976, made clear that the felt need to give the integration project 'a human face' translated into Social Europe for Workers law and policy outcomes. 3 Indeed the remaining articles of that special issue focused on free movement and social security coordination for Community workers, the European Social Fund, employee

European Union's ‘social constitution’ and bailout measures – Are the bailout measures EU law? – Do the bailout measures create legal obligations? – Legal nature of Memoranda of Understanding – Avenues for challenge – Call for recognition of the EU law nature of bailouts and the costs of such non-recognition

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