Los agentes sociales españoles ante el proceso de integración europeanuevas opciones de participación y nuevas responsabilidades

Abstract

The economical and political integration project of the European Union opens new room for participation in decisionmaking for trade unions and employers' associations. However, it also poses signiticative challenges, both in strategical and structural terms to these groups of interest representation. The active role played by these actors in political design at European level has been one of the main characteristics of the European Union from the mid 50s, although it has received further institutional support in recent times. The articulation of new and more developed institutional tools to facilitate the involvement of the social partners in political design at European level, as in example the European Social Dialogue, has strengthened the capacity of trade unions and employers to participate in communitary decision-making. The aim of our contribution to this volume is to evaluate the new obligations that the trade unions and employers' organizations have had to assume as a result of their closer involvement in political design at European level.