A Viking We Will Go: Neo-Corporatism and Social Europe

German Law Journal, Vol. 11, No. 6 pp. 633-652, 2010

20 Pages Posted: 24 Jun 2009 Last revised: 1 Jul 2010

Date Written: June 23, 2009

Abstract

In Viking and Laval the European Court of Justice (ECJ) adjudicated the rights of labor and capital mobility under E.U. law. Both cases strengthen the single European market through economic liberalization to generate greater prosperity for all Europeans as part of the process of European economic and political integration. Labor and capital mobility create greater prosperity for all through more rational market exchanges. Free trade is good for goods and is even better for labor. A liberalized and fully mobilized labor market results in more productivity and greater wealth in the European polity as well as creating interdependence and thereby deeper integration resulting in greater understanding and less conflict. The decisions, wrongly criticized by some as "bad for workers" are justified by the fact they will benefit workers in Eastern Europe, consumers in Western Europe, and the community as a whole by deepening integration. A key challenge for the European Union is to economically anchor and deepen the political restructuring of Eastern Europe by enabling the natural labor and capital movements which an open marketplace generates. Europe does this not with the failed neo-liberal model which has ravaged the wealth of the United States and squandered it in illusory booms based on consumer borrowing and deficit spending to fund war for oil. Rather, Europe is developing a neo-corporatist social model. This article uses the Viking and Laval cases as foils to expose that model.

Keywords: Viking, Laval, Social Europe, Neo, Corporatism, Corporatism, Corporatist, Proportionality, Europe, EU, EEC, EC, European Union, Labor, Union

JEL Classification: J5, J61, K31, K33

Suggested Citation

Engle, Eric, A Viking We Will Go: Neo-Corporatism and Social Europe (June 23, 2009). German Law Journal, Vol. 11, No. 6 pp. 633-652, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1424702

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