The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Social Dialogue, Social Standards, European Labour Law, Economic and Social Rights

Abstract

The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is an essential milestone in the development of Social Europe. It is a positive contribution to labor law in the EU for many reasons and to the capability of social dialogue, and it also supports a concept of European social citizenship to overcome the division between classical human rights and economic and social rights. In these regards, this study aims to focus on verifying that the EU Charter improves the ability of social dialogue to set social standards among the Member States. For this aim, first of all the EU Charter’s articles 27 and 28, which are about social dialogue, are examined as the rights putting social dialogue in the EU Charter. Secondly, Articles 51 and 52 of the EU Charter, in terms of the application and interpretation of the relevant rights, are analyzed. Accordingly, it is reached that Articles 51 and 52 of the EU Charter do not prevent the enforcement of these rights, the social rights are within EU competence, Article 52 of the EU Charter reinforces the social legitimacy of the EU, the EU Charter’s rights are a high standard of protection and all the rights including social and labor rights in the EU Charter are same justiciable and enforceable rights. Thirdly, the consequences of the role of the European Court of Justice as an interpretative guide of the Charter in the light of the acquis communautaine social of European Labour Law is represented in this paper. Fourthly, since the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights takes part in Article 6(1) of the TFEU, conferring it with the same legal value as the EU Treaties, these social rights as primary European law are mentioned as having a direct effect and supremacy to be equally implemented among the Member States. Lastly, the impact of the EU Charter on the Social Dialogue’s norm-building power is discussed, and thus, it is concluded that the fundamental rights in the EU Charter have affected the social dialogue’s norm-building power positively since the EU Charter has strengthened this power by providing its legitimacy.