A ‘constitutional’ future for European labour law

On 25 March 2007, the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the twenty-seven Member States of the European Union meeting in Berlin acknowledged the need to ‘always renew the political shape of Europe in keeping with the times’. They declared their united objective of ‘placing the European Union on a renewed common basis before the European Parliament elections in 2009’. Following the debacle of the rejection by France and the Netherlands in 2005 of the proposed Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe, a final effort was being launched. At the press conference concluding the fiftieth anniversary celebrations, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, declared her intention that the June 2007 summit under the German Presidency should agree a road map. A new draft Treaty/Constitution was to be elaborated during the coming Portuguese Presidency of the Council so as to be ready by the end of 2007, to be ratified thereafter by the Member States during the period up to the European Parliament elections in June 2009.

The Berlin Declaration asserted that the European model ‘combines economic success and social responsibility’. The concerns over ‘Social Europe’ during the preparation of the Constitutional Treaty led to the inclusion of explicit social values, social and employment objectives, fundamental social rights, recognition of the role of the social partners, a strengthened ‘mainstreaming’ anti-discrimination clause and a ‘mainstreaming’ social clause.