European Social Charter in

practice – case study of

France
Does that treaty of CoE work?

Team members: Afia Anika, Miazi Jubayer Hossain, Mh Shuvo, NoMan,

Beck Bekmukhambetov, Wojciech Futro
What is European Social Charter?

 The European Social Charter is a Council of Europe treaty which was opened for signature on October 18, 1961
and initially became effective on February 26, 1965, after West Germany had become the fifth of the 13 signing
nations to ratify it. By 1991, 20 nations had ratified it.
 The Charter lays specific emphasis on the protection of vulnerable persons such as elderly people,
children, people with disabilities and migrants. It requires that enjoyment of the abovementioned
rights be guaranteed without discrimination.
 No other legal instrument at pan-European level can provide such an extensive and complete
protection of social rights as that provided by the Charter, which also serves as a point of
reference in European Union law; most of the social rights in the EU Charter of Fundamental
Rights are based on the relevant articles of the Charter.
 The Charter is therefore seen as the Social Constitution of Europe and represents an essential
component of the continent’s human rights architecture.
Which countries have ratified the ESC
(fully/partially)?
Monitoring procedures under the European
Social Charter
• The implementation of the European Social Charter by States Parties
is supervised by the European Committee of Social Rights through the
collective complaints procedure and the reporting system. The
Charter is based on what is termed a ratification system, enabling
states, under certain circumstances, to choose the provisions they are
willing to accept as binding international legal obligations.
Reporting system of the European Social
Charter
Case of France
 Status of ratification:
France ratified the European Social Charter on 09/03/1973 and the
Revised European Social Charter on 07/05/1999, accepting all of its 98
paragraphs.  It accepted the 1995 Additional Protocol providing for a
system of collective complaints on 07/05/1999, but has not yet made
a declaration enabling national NGOs to submit collective complaints.
Which provisions of ESC are accepted and
non-accepted by France?
 In recent years, the European social model has faced unprecedented
challenges, such as increasing austerity in public spending, severe
welfare cuts, and rising youth unemployment. These have in turn
The Future of led to significant crises of ideology, legitimacy and regulation in

European
respect of EU social policy. Nevertheless, there are prospects for the
creation of more meaningful social rights in the EU in the future.

Social Charter
This policy briefing provides an overview of:
 the major challenges confronting the European social model in the
aftermath of the financial crisis;
 the core strengths of the European social model and EU social policy;
 the prospects for strengthening European social policy in the future.
Three crises Any discussion of the European social model requires consideration

for the of what the EU is about. Even if the EU is seen primarily as an

economic union based on freedom of movement, it is not possible
European to disregard its social dimension. When things go wrong within the

social single market, such as when people lose their jobs or get sick, social
policy has an important role to play. European social policy is intended
model to ensure equality, common values and employment across the EU.
However, during the financial crisis, European social policy arguably
failed fully to meet these objectives. Consequently, the European social
model is currently suffering from three main crises: of ideology, of
legitimacy and of regulation.
The Crisis of Ideology

EU social law is often perceived as an intrusion into national competences, as it is considered

that individual member states are better placed than supranational Institutions to address social
issues. There is also considerable Scepticism surrounding EU ‘flexicurity’ policies, which aim to
Reconcile employers need for a flexible workforce with workers .The main argument here is that
EU policies should focus on job creation, rather than re-integration schemes and training
programms.
The Crisis of Legitimacy

EU social policy is squarely anchored in EU primary law, which names

solidarity as one of the Union’s core premises states that the Union is
founded on the principles of a social market economy and enshrines the
common goal of achieving a high level of employment, and a
commitment to social protection and to combating social exclusion The
Charter of Fundamental Rights also contains a chapter entitled
‘solidarity’ together with provisions pertaining to equality and to
dignity.
 Social measures are delivered partly by Member States and partly
at the EU level and thus involve both national and supranational
regulation. This has not worked well. The Open Method of
Coordination, which has been used in this field, has been mostly
unsuccessful; the social partners (i.e. employers’ organizations and
The Crisis of trade unions) have struggled to deliver results through dialogue;

Regulation and there are increasing calls for repatriation of EU competences

to the Member States in the area of ‘solidarity’, mostly impinging
on rights at work. Two Member States in particular, the UK and
Poland, may have secured an opt-out from the Charter’s Solidarity
chapter Delivering the European social model has
Therefore, proved to be far from a harmonious enterprise.
 Withstanding
the challenge: Pragmatism
Social policy was absent in the early years of European
Three core integration.

strengths of the Equality directives were first introduced in the 1970s; the 1990s
then saw a series of changes to the law covering (among other
European social things) working time, pregnant workers, and posted workers4 ;
model and flexicurity policies were then introduced in the 2000s. This
gradual history shows how European labour law, a core element
of the EU social policy, has adapted and responded to current
needs throughout the European social integration process – a
fundamentally pragmatic approach.
 EU social law has always had innovative features. The different
types of labour law implemented have been particularly flexible,
because they have been applied through diverse instruments as
needed and have generally adapted to the demands of different
Member States.
This has been clear even during the financial crisis: for example,

Adaptability the European Parliament has been successful in pushing for social
measures in several kinds of legislation introduced since (such as
the cross-border provision of services within the internal market
or public procurement). Furthermore, Member States have been
closely consulted in the development of social policies, which have
taken account of individual country circumstances (for example,
single contract forms have not been included in the Commission’s
country-specific recommendations for Spain under the European
Semester, as they conflicted with that country’s fundamental
employment provisions).
Survival

The challenges arising from the financial crisis have delivered

heavy blows to the European level of protection of social rights,
but important parts of it have remained intact. While things
could have been done differently – and with stronger democratic
safeguards – the social model has survived: minimum European
rules on employment and welfare are still in place and thus offer
opportunities for further development.
The European social model and its
capacity for reinvention in the future

The prospects for maintaining and improving the European social

model in the future include consideration of the following reforms
which would secure meaningful reinvention:
 the creation of a Social Compact;
 a protocol on future bailouts;
 more modest proposals on employment policy and enforcement
 of rights.
Thank you very much for
your attention!
List of sources
• https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JcYNLt1nMXs/mqdefault.jpg [Image]
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European_Social_Charter_member_states.svg
[Image/map]
• https://www.coe.int/en/web/european-social-charter/france
• https://www.coe.int/en/web/european-social-charter/implementing-
the-european-social-charter