Refusal to implement European social partners’ agreements: recent practice of the Commission

Abstract

European social partner agreements negotiated on the basis of Article 155 TFEU may be implemented at the level of the European Union at the joint request of the parties via a Council decision. Unlike the autonomous implementation, this ‘institutional’ method transforms the agreement into an EU legal act. This text analyses the refusal of the European Commission to submit to the Council, an Agreement that establishes a general framework for informing and consulting civil servants and employees of central government administrations and which was concluded within the EU Social Dialogue Committee for the Central Government Administration. It discusses the scope of the Commission’s competence to refuse to submit the agreement to the Council for implementation. Moreover, it presents a polemic on the judgment of the EU General Court that confirmed the European Commission’s broad scope of competence in refusing to submit to the Council a proposal for a decision to implement the agreement. The author argues that giving the Commission such a large margin of appreciation could undermine the European social dialogue. Moreover, the author explains why the above-mentioned Agreement should be implemented via a Council decision.

Keywords

• Article 155 TFEU
• agreements of European social partners
• implementation of agreements
• right to information and consultation
• public administration