The Role of the EU and the Social Rights : A Two-Tier Union ?

there was a time when Europe had the ambition to promote  social goals. The idea of Europe as a society, in parallel with Europe as an economic and monetary union, used to be a political motto that had led to the implementation of social rights at the European level. Following the signature of the European Social Charter in 1961 and its revision in 1996, the proclamation in 2009 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights enshrined the indivisibility of both civil and socio-economic rights and put the emphasis on the importance of the latter.  Those days seem to be over: as a consequence of the economic crisis, austerity measures have been implemented throughout the European countries. And the judicial interpretation of the European law is of no assistance in taking social rights seriously. This communication will present and analyse both the European Court of Justice  and the ECHR case-law, and demonstrate the weakness of the protection currently provided by the european Courts in the social field.