The court of justice and the social market economy: The emergence of an ideal and the conditions for its realization

Common Market Law Review

Volumn 45, Issue 5, 2008, Pages 1335-1356

  Cazoula, Loï ^a  

^a UNIVERSITÉ PANTHÉON ASSAS   (France)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 57349121652     PISSN: 01650750     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (82)

1. Case C-438/U5, International Transport Worker's Federation, Finnish Seamens Union v. Viking Line ABP, OÜ Viking Line Esti, judgment of 11 Dec. 2007, nyr; Case C-341 /05, Laval un Partneri Ltd v. Svenska Byggnadsarbetareförbundet and others, judgment of 18 Dec. 2007, nyr. The facts are quite well known, but are also summarized in Malmberg and Sigeman, "Industrial actions and EU economic freedoms: The autonomous collective bargaining model curtailed by the European Court of Justice", 45 CML Rev. (2008), 1079-1114. There is already an abundant literature commenting on these cases, which follow different lines of analysis. See e.g., taking one line, Bercusson, "The Trade Union Movement and the European Union: Judgement Day", 13 ELJ (2007), 279-308; Barnard, "Viking and Laval: An Introduction", (2008) CYELS, (forthcoming); taking a different line: Reich, "Free Movement v. Social Rights in an Enlarged Union - the Laval and Viking cases before the ECJ", (2008) German Law Journal (www.germanlaw-journal.com/), Teyssié, "Esquisse du droit communautaire des conflits collectives", Semaine Juridique Social, 5 Feb. 2008, 1075.
2. Viking, para 79; Laval, para 105.
3. Case 43/75, Defrenne v. Sabena [1976] ECR 455, para 10.
4. Weiler, The Constitution of Europe, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999.
5. Edward, "What kind of law does Europe need?", (1999) CJEL, 1; Mortelmans, "The Relationship Between the Treaty Rules and Community Measures for the Establishment and Functioning of the Internal Market - Towards a Concordance Rule", 39 CML Rev. (2002), 1341 et seq.
6. See Azoulai, Article 1-3. Les objectifs de l'Union, in Burgorgue-Larsen, Levade, Picod (Eds.), Traité établissant une Constitution pour l'Europe. Commentaire article par article, vol. 2 (Bruylant, Bruxelles, 2007).
7. See Joerges and Rödl, "Social Market Economy" as Europe's Social Model ?, EUI Working Paper, 2004/8.
8. Speech by the President of the European Commission J.M. Barroso, "Shaping a modern social agenda for Europe", Brussels, 6 May 2008.
9. Art. 136 EC: "the Community and the Member States shall implement measures which take account of the diverse forms of national practices, in particular in the field of contractual relations...".
10. Barnard, op. cit. supra note 1.
11. Art. 28 of the EU Charter of fundamental Rights provides: Workers and employers, or their respective organisations, have, in accordance with Community law and national laws and practices, the right to negotiate and conclude collective agreements at the appropriate levels and, in cases of conflicts of interest, to take collective action to defend their interests, including strike action.
12. Cf. Barnard, "Unravelling the Services Directive", 45 CML Rev. (2008), 323.
13. Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 Dec. 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services, O.J. 1997, L 18/1.
14. Laval, para 60.
15. Syrpis and Novitz, "Economic and social rights in conflict: Political and judicial approaches to their reconciliation", 33 EL Rev. (2008), 411.
16. Pescatore, "La Cour en tant que juridiction fédérale et constitutionnelle", in Dix arts de jurisprudence de la Cour de justice des Communautés européennes (Cologne, Carl Heymans Verlag, 1965).
17. Directive 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market, O.J. 2006, L 376/26.
18. See, e.g. the recent judgment of 11 Sept. 2007, Joined Cases C-76/05 & C-318/05, Schwarz, nyr.
19. Case C-415/93, Boswan, [1995] ECRI-4921.
20. Viking, para 40.
21. Case C-372/02, Watts, [2006] ECR I-4323, para 147.
22. Watts, ibid., para 145.
23. See e.g. Case C-322/01, Deutscher Apothekerverband, [2003] ECR I-4887, paras. 73-74.
24. See, in particular, Case C-157/99, Smits and Peerbooms, [2001] ECR I-5473; Case C-446/03, Marks & Spencer, [2005] 1-10837; Case C-209/03, Bidar, [2005] ECR I-2119.
25. De Búrca and Gerstenberg, "The denationalization of constitutional law", 47 Harvard International Law Journal (2006), 242.
26. Lyon-Caen, "Droit social et droit de la concurrence. Observations sur une rencontre", in Les orientations sociales du droit contemporain (PUF, Paris, 1992), p. 331.
27. See e.g. Marks & Spencer, cited supra note 24; Watts, cited supra note 21; Case C-36/02, Omega, [2004] ECR I-9609.
28. Following the analysis of Rodière, "Article II-88. Droit de négociation", in Burgorgue-Larsen, Levade, Picod op. cit. supra note 6.
29. Case C-159/00, Sapod Audic, [2002], ECR I-5031, para 74.
30. Case C-325/00, Commission v. Germany, [2002] ECR I-9977
31. Bosman, cited supra note 19; Case C-309/99, Wouters, [2002] ECR I-1577.
32. Case C-281/98, Angonase, [2000] ECR I-4139.
33. Para 60, Viking.
34. On this point, see Poiares Madura, "L'tat caméléon. Formes publique et privée de l'Homo Economicus", in Le droit à la mesure de l'homme. Mélanges en hommage à P. Léger (Pedone, 2006).
35. Para 39, Defrenne.
36. Para 58, Viking.
37. See Bailleux, Les interactions entre libre circulation et droits fondamentaux dans la jurisprudence communautaire, PhD thesis, Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis, Brussels, 2008, p. 748.
38. See Hohfeld, Fundamental Legal Conceptions (Greenwood Press, Westport, reprint, 1978).
39. See, in English law, Barnard, op. cit. supra note 1; in French law, Cavallini, "Une action collective licite en droit interne peut être contraire à la liberté d'établissement consacrée par le traité de Rome", Semaine Juridique Social, 5 février 2008, 1086 ; Pataut et Robin-Olivier, "Europe sociale ou Europe économique (à propos des affaires Viking et Laval)", (2008) Revue du droit du travail, p. 80.
40. Paras. 72-73, Viking.
41. Paras. 99-100, Laval.
42. Case C-309/99, Wouters, [2002] ECR I-1577.
43. On this idea, Poiares Maduro, We the Court: The European Court of Justice and the European Economic Constitution (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 1998).
44. Para 44, Viking, para 91, Laval.
45. Case C-49/89, Corsica Ferries France [1989] ECR 4441, para 8.
46. This is what Joerges and Rödl call a "true conflict": "Democracy and European Integration: A Legacy of Tensions, a Re-conceptualisation and Recent True Conflicts", EUI Working Paper, LAW 2007/25.
47. See e.g. Case 265/87, Schräder [1989] ECR 2237, para 15. Identically, Art. 52(1) of the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union provides that "[a]ny limitation on the exercise of the rights and freedoms recognized by this Charter must be provided for by law and respect the essence of those rights and freedoms. Subject to the principle of proportionality, limitations may be made only if they are necessary and genuinely meet objectives of general interest recognized by the Union or the need to protect the rights and freedoms of others".
48. Case C-67/96, Albany, [1999] ECR I-5751, para 54.
49. Para 59.
50. Para 60.
51. See also Case C-222/98, van der Woude, [2000] ECR I-7111.
52. See, on legal theory, Champeil-Desplats, "Raisonnement juridique et pluralité des valeurs: les conflits axio-téléologiques de normes", (2001) Analisi e diritto.
53. Blanke, "Observations on the Opinions of Advocates General Maduro and Mengozzi delivered on 23 May 2007 in the Viking and Laval cases", ETUI-REHS, Transfer 3/07. "Mutual optimization" refers to the concept of "praktische Konkordanz" as developed in German constitutional law.
54. Poiares Madura, "Striking the Elusive Balance Between Economic Freedom and Social Rights in the European Union", in Alston, Cassese, Lalumière, Leuprecht (Eds.), An EU Human Rights Agenda for the New Millennium (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 1999), p. 449.
55. Opinion in Viking, paras. 59-60.
56. On this point, see Bercusson, op. cit. supra note 1, who states that "the freedom of entre-prises to move throughout the single European market has shifted the balance of economic power towards employers" (at 307). Also Moreau, Normes sociales, droit du travail et mondialisation (Dalloz, Paris, 2006).
57. Schmidberger, para 82.
58. Para 93.
59. Expressing doubts on the role assumed by the Court in these cases, Joerges and Rödl, "On De-formalisation in European Politics in Response to the 'Social Deficit' of the European Integration Project", www.europeanrights.eu, 30 May 2008.
60. On the idea of societal constitutional bodies, see Dorf and Sabel, "A Constitution of Democratic Experimentalism", 98 Columbia Law Review, (1998), 267 et seq.; Gerstenberg and Sabel, "Directly- Deliberative Polyarchy: An Institutional Ideal for Europe?", in Joerges and Dehousse (Eds.), Good Governance in Europe's Integrated Market (Oxford, OUP, 2002), p. 289.
61. Paras. 81, 87, 89.
62. Paras. 71, 110.
63. French academic literature is particularly aware of this intrusive judicial review.- Caval-lini, op. cit. supra note 39; Vigneau, "Encadrement par la Cour de Gaction collective au regard du Traité de Rome", Semaine Juridique Ed. Générale, 26 mars 2008, II-10060 ; Pataut and Robin-Olivier, op. cit. supra note 39. From an Italian point of view, Veneziani, "La Corte di giustizia ed il trauma del cavallo di Troia", (2008) Rivista giuridica del lavoro.
64. Cf. Opinion A.G. Mengozzi in Laval, para 260.
65. Para 71.
66. Paras 73 to 84.
67. Para 84.
68. Para 98.
69. Opinion, para 272.
70. Opinion, para. 265.
71. Opinion, para 268.
72. Opinion, para 273.
73. As recalled by the Court, para 70.
74. On the structure of reasoning of the Court in such context, see Bengoetxea, MacCor-mick, Moral Soriano, "Integration and Integrity in the Legal Reasoning of the European Court of Justice", in de Búrca and Weiler, The European Court of Justice (Oxford, OUP, 2001), p. 67.
75. Para 108.
76. Para 61.
77. On the specificity of transnational conflicts, see Pataut, "Régulation des rapports de travail en Europe et conflits de lois", in Audit, Muir Watt, Pataut (Eds.), Conflits de lois et régulation économique (Paris, LGDJ, 2008), p. 134.
78. A conditional duty of solidarity towards citizens of other Member States is clearly asserted by the Court in its case law on citizenship: see Case C-184/99, Grzelczyk, [2001] ECR I-6193, para 44.
79. Opinion Viking, para 70.
80. Ibid.
81. See, in particular, Bidar cited supra note 24; Watts, cited supra note 21.
82. Cf. Cassese, "La function constitutionnelle des juges non nationaux. De l'espace juridi-que global à l'ordre juridique global", conference at the Cour de Cassation, Paris, 11 June 2007.