| Popis: |
This chapter shows how, at the end of the 1960s, some new concern emerged for the ‘social dimension’ of European integration. First, the uprisings of 1968 and rising economic and monetary turmoil started to alert European political elites of the need to make up the European Community’s (EC’s) social deficit. Second, the late 1960s saw an evolution of many forces of the Left—in particular, socialist and communist parties, and their ‘sister’ trade unions—towards a position of ‘pro-European’ reformism. Finally, this ‘European turn’ occasioned intensifying calls for a more ambitious European social policy and more inclusion of trade unions in European policymaking, and started opening new perspectives. The European revival decided by European governments in 1969 at The Hague, despite its meagre commitment on social issues, paved the way for a broader rethinking of Europe’s social purpose. |
