Drawing on primary evidence from interviews with EU level actors, including trade unions, employer associations and NGOs, this paper looks at how social actors at the EU level perceive tensions between social and labour rights on the one hand and Internal Market law on the other. It also considers the responses of these social actors at an EU level to address these tensions.
The paper finds some perceived tensions between social and labour rights and Internal Market law, particularly around the protection of posted workers, freedom of establishment, and equal treatment rights of workers. Responses to tensions amongst EU level actors were varied. Stronger mechanisms for enforcing existing social and labour rights, and better information provision were offered as solutions by some. However, others felt that revisiting the very substance of existing provisions was necessary to ensure that social and labour rights were afforded the same status as internal labour market law.
