Transformation of the roles of social partners through EU governance

The EC/EU institution-building has changed the preferences, interests and ideas of the social partners, and thus attracted them into the “European social policy community”. Under the “Community method”, the traditional mode of EU governance, the social partners developed social dialogues, participated in the Tripartite Conferences and provided consultations for legislation. Along with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, the social partners at the EU level have gained the right to participate directly into the legislating procedure recurring to social partnership. Under the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), the new mode of EU governance, the social partners, together with the civil society, are playing pivotal roles in the formulation, implementation, and overseeing EU policies. This paper intends to make a detailed analysis of the different roles played by the social partners under the three types of decision-making mechanisms, that is, the normal legislating procedure, the social partnership procedure and the OMC, thus trying to illustrate some of the characteristics of EU governance.