European Social Model - Essay Example

Article 36 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights1 and Article 16 of the EC Treaty2 establish SGI amongst the common values of the Union as well as their role in fostering social and territorial cohesion. Implementation of SGIs also ensures that some fundamental human rights are upheld, such as, the right to health and care; the right to education; the right to housing; the right to work; the right to access water and electricity, etc. Personal social services are not only services of general interest but also an indispensable element of social protection systems.

The European social model contributes substantially to the European Union's economic development and productivity. Social protection systems provide both a base for the creation of wealth, and a guarantee against social exclusion, poverty, insecurity and discrimination. These services differ from other SGI in that their quality depends on other requirements such as vulnerability and dependency of their users. The principles governing the single market have led to the growing dominance of the logic of the market, which should remain a means and not become an end and should thus effectively support the fundamental objectives of the European Union, which are "to promote economic and social progress", "to achieve balanced and sustainable development", to reinforce "social and economic cohesion"3. . .

Two different legal regimes apply to SGI and to social protection systems. EU competition law covers services of general economic interest while social security systems fall outside the scope of EU competition law as stated in 29 of the European's Commission Communication on Services of General Interest in Europe / Com (2000) 580: In the second place,. This paper explores that the principles governing the single market have led to the growing dominance of the logic of the market, which should remain a means and not become an end and should thus effectively support the fundamental objectives of the European Union, which are "to promote economic and social progress", "to achieve balanced and sustainable development", to reinforce "social and economic cohesion" .

Two different legal regimes apply to SGI and to social protection systems. As the report declares services such as national education and compulsory basic social security schemes are also excluded from the application of competition and internal market rules. With regard to the former, the European Court of Justice ruled that the State, in establishing and maintaining such a system, is not seeking to engage in gainful activity but is fulfilling its duty towards is own population in the social, cultural and educational fields.

The European legal tools of governance have served to Europeanize services of general interest. The reconciliation of the European market orientated approach to liberalization and the national defence of public services had been brought about by the creation of a Community law concept of “universal service”. This has been achieved through the use of Article 86 EC and the soft law communications by the Commission. Governance by soft law queries the legitimacy of the exercise and the legal nature of soft law Communications.