A constitution of social governance for the European Union

Abstract

This chapter considers the EU's socio-economic constitution under the lens of humaneness. It argues that the EU's unique socio-economic constitution demands equilibrium of socio-economic integration instead of widening the gap between economic integration at EU levels and social integration at national levels. While the EU lacks the legislative competences to achieve this equilibrium, the constitutional principle still prevails. Indeed, the EU competences reflect its own values as well as the socioeconomic constitutions of its constituent Member States. These frequently do not allow for total state-governance of social spheres such as working life, education, care or other social services. Instead, societal actors are given scope to (co-)govern these spheres at national levels. Accordingly, the apparent tension between the EU's socioeconomic values and principles and its limited competences in the social policy field can be resolved through a dynamic interpretation of the EU Treaties towards a "constitution of social governance". This interpretation reads the Treaties as authorising governance by societal actors. The chapter connects the idea of humanness to the ideals of social governance at EU level and proposes two options for practical application of the concept. These are rules for trans-national labour markets based on European collective labour agreements and a European higher education sector developed by agreements between universities. Key words Social governance  Trans-national collective labour agreements  European higher education sector  New economic governance  Market determinism  Neo-liberal drift  austerity  Professor of Law, Jean Monnet ad personam Chair in EU Law and Policy, Queen's University Belfast. This chapter owes much to the generous feedback by Dora Kostakopoulou and Julia Bradshaw, and to the editors' patience with missed deadlines. The usual disclaimer applies. 2

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