Fourth report from the Commission … on the application of the Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers

Summary:

The Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers was adopted by eleven of the heads of state and government at the European Council of Strasbourg on 8 and 9 December 1989. The Protocol on Social Policy states that "eleven Member States wish to continue along the path laid down in the 1989 Social Charter", and authorises them to "have recourse to the institutions, procedures and mechanisms of the Treaty for the purposes of taking among themselves and applying as far as they are concerned the acts and decisions required"; it goes on to say that this is "without prejudice to the provisions of the Treaty, particularly those relating to social policy which constitute an integral part of the acquis communautaire". For its part, the Agreement says that the "Community and the Member States shall have as their objectives the promotion of employment, improved living and working conditions, proper social protection, dialogue between management and labour, the development of human resources with a view to lasting high employment and the combating of exclusion. To this end the Community and the Member States shall implement measures which take account of the diverse forms of national practices, in particular in the field of contractual relations, and the need to maintain the competitiveness of the Community economy."