The Collective Complaint Procedure of the European Social Charter: Some Lessons for the EU?

Abstract:

The Collective Complaint Procedure of the European Social Charter deals with issues that have implications beyond individual situations, for specific groups or systematic problems. The procedure is of critical importance, as it gives its monitoring body, the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR), the possibility to assess a situation in depth. In this context, the Committee has often dealt with the EU legal framework.

This interaction moved in two directions. On the one hand, the EU framework has an informative character for decisions on collective complaints; violations of EU law are potential indicators for violations of the respective standards of the European Social Charter. On the other hand, certain legislative and policy activities by EU institutions as implemented by Member States have been found to be incompatible with the standards of the Charter. This tension has become particularly apparent in matters of asylum and migration law, and in view of austerity measures in response to the economic crisis.