London and New York, Anthem Press, 2022, 80 pages, £ 19.99

In light of a number of serious economic and social crises, particularly noteworthy being the worldwide coronavirus pandemic and, even more recently, the Ukrainian refugee crisis in 2022, the importance of the protection of the enjoyment of social rights in Europe has increased significantly. These crises have caused major impacts on the most essential social rights, including the beyond going ‘societal issues’ , such as the ‘right to protection of health, the protection and education of children and young persons and the right of persons with disabilities to social integration and participation in the life of the community’, provided for in the European Social Charter.

In Collective Complaints as a Means for Protecting Social Rights in Europe , Giuseppe Palmisano has created a valuable contribution to ensuring the protection of the said social rights, explaining the development and specialities, as well as the key problems of the collective complaints procedure, envisaged as a sui generis instrument established within the framework of the Council of Europe, and aiming to protect social rights in Europe. Due to his many years of experience in various positions, inter alia as President, in the European Committee of Social Rights, there is no one better placed to shed light on the monitoring mechanism of collective complaints, and its difficulties.

The book consists of eight chapters. The first chapter provides an introduction to the European Social Charter treaty system, its relaunch, and its specific ‘à la carte arrangement’, intended as a system of acceptance, enabling states to decide on the provisions which they consider – to a certain extent – to be binding obligations.

The second chapter continues with a comprehensive overview of the foundations of the collective complaints procedure, and paves the way for the first main chapter, Chapter 3, in which the author deals with the admissibility of complaints, highlighting the issues relating to the various collective bodies entitled to lodge a complaint.

As a first step, the author examines situations where representative trade unions lodge a complaint, addressing the difficulties related to the concept of ‘trade union’ and the criteria of ‘representative’ in this regard.