Paper Titles & Abstracts

The European integration process is fraught with political tensions. Certain developments, such as the debate over Services Directive, the ECJ's rulings on the so-called 'Laval Quartet' and the failed referenda in France, Holland and Ireland, have caused concern over the direction of the project. The Delorsian vision of a 'Social Europe' appears to have faltered especially since the 2004 enlargement. The question of Europe has been a prominent feature of national elections in Ireland, France, Holland and Italy. The research question driving this paper is: to what extent is the changing nature of European integration, in the light of Eastern enlargement and successive ECJ rulings, undermining the pro-European consensus of trade unions?After forty-years of membership the Irish trade union movement has changed its position on European integration from one of opposition vis-à-vis membership to taciturn elite support to enthusiastic elite support during the 1990s. What explains these shifts? Since the turn of the millennium, Ireland's commitment to the project has been called into question. On different European treaties, the Irish electorate had to be consulted twice before the desired riposte was given. Over the course of the last number of referenda a number of trade unions have campaigned against the various treaties. Does this development represent a politicization of the European question? From a normative perspective does such a development enhance the democratic health of the European Union? This paper will trace the position of five trade unions on European integration over four decades with the hope of improving understanding on the politicization process.