(p. 269) 19. The European Union’s Social Dimension 

This chapter examines how European Union social policy has evolved since the late 1950s. It first considers the intergovernmental character of European social policy in the early days before discussing how the gradual introduction of qualified majority voting and the widening scope of the policy allowed European institutions and European-level interest groups a greater say in the social dimension. It then analyses the work of the European Social Fund and the European Globalization Adjustment Fund, along with the arrival of the open method of coordination and social partnership at the European level. The chapter concludes by explaining how social regulation has become more difficult since the accession of a large number of Central and Eastern European states, and because of the effects of the financial and economic crisis.