This paper examines the Death of Social Europe, concentrating on the changes taking place to collective bargaining, as an essential foundation of social democracy and social justice.   It begins with Jacques Delors' famous address to the TUC in 1988 in which he promised that every worker would be protected by a collective agreement, and examines the different ways by which collective bargaining arrangements were subsequently woven into the fabric of EU law.   The paper also considers the more recent views of Mario Draghi, and in particular his pronouncement that Social Europe is ‘gone'.   Commission inspired initiatives suggest that this may be the case, most notably in the form of co-ordinated attacks on the collective bargaining structures in a number of member states, these initiatives being variously undertaken for reasons of international competitiveness and austerity, with free trade agreements likely to provide an additional pressure.   The Death of Social Europe invites some examination of fundamental legal principles by which the EU purports to be bound, most notably the rule of law, which appears seriously to be compromised by the developments tracked in this paper.

 This paper examines the Death of Social Europe, concentrating on the changes taking place to collective bargaining, as an essential foundation of social democracy and social justice.   It begins with Jacques Delors' famous address to the TUC in 1988 in which he promised that every worker would be protected by a collective agreement, and examines the different ways by which collective bargaining arrangements were subsequently woven into the fabric of EU law.   The paper also considers the more recent views of Mario Draghi, and in particular his pronouncement that Social Europe is ‘gone'.   Commission inspired initiatives suggest that this may be the case, most notably in the form of co-ordinated attacks on the collective bargaining structures in a number of member states, these initiatives being variously undertaken for reasons of international competitiveness and austerity, with free trade agreements likely to provide an additional pressure.   The Death of Social Europe invites some examination of fundamental legal principles by which the EU purports to be bound, most notably the rule of law, which appears seriously to be compromised by the developments tracked in this paper.