Social dialogue

Abstract

In February 1992 the member states of the European Community formally signed the Treaty on European Union — the Maastricht Treaty. The Social Protocol¹ annexed to it set out a new mechanism for formulating and implementing EC policy in the field of social and labour affairs. This new mechanism gives ‘management and labour at the Community level’ a key role to play both through extensive consultation and through the chance to implement EC social policy by means of European-level collective agreements backed by Council Decisions.