INTRODUCTION – A COMPLEX SOCIAL ISSUE SHAPED AND PROVOKED BY EUROPEAN LAW

As a result of the neoliberal philosophy and politics which inspired its conception and implementation, the economic unification of Europe has claimed a lot of victims. What is more, this neoliberalism continues to animate, without any inhibition whatsoever, the political, legislative and judicial initiatives of the European institutions. There can be no doubt that neoliberalism is the Union's official ideology. The realization of the single market has come about without any adjusting or accompanying economic and social policies. The effects of the establishment of the single market on social and human relations go far beyond the economic and commercial domains its authors had in mind. In fact, the single market has led to changes in European society that are so far-reaching that they could very well be qualified as mutations. They can be found at three levels: the primary economic level, the social level, and finally the general or societal level. At the primary economic level the establishment of the single market has given rise to increased, extensive and oft en harsh competition between the various economic actors, prompting the creation of bigger companies and frequently damaging the local economies and SMEs. Th us, the unification has produced a torrent of restructuring operations, in many cases resulting in a loss of jobs or in delocalization and transfers of jobs. The competitive violence to which European undertakings have been subjected has been reinforced by the Union's and the Member States’ accession to the Free Trade Treaty that established the WTO. This accession has led to the globalization, in fact and in law, of certain markets, thus pushing the economic pressure on European entrepreneurs and employers to the limit. The Europeanization and globalization have come about without any major accompanying economic policies, resulting in the creation of an environment that is adverse to the reinforcement of the industry in Europe. Indeed, by choosing a largely monetary-oriented economic approach the European institutions have been contributing to the destabilization and weakening of the European economic actors… sometimes entailing a considerable increase in unemployment. The bank crisis has had a catalysing effect and has only reinforced the lack of adjusting economic policies.