On 1 December 2009 the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force. Although often described as primarily technical, it significantly amended the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and the old EC Treaty (now the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, TFEU). The authors' aim in this book is to explore what the Treaty means for social law and social policy at the European level. The first part of the book on the general framework looks - at a time of financial crisis - for new foundations for Europe's Social market economy, questions the balance between fundamental social rights and economic freedoms, analyses the role of the now binding Charter of Fundamental Rights, maps the potential impact of the horizontal clauses on social policy and addresses the possibilities for social partners to enlarge their role in labour law and industrial relations. The second part, on the social framework of the Treaty, focuses on the development of the Union's competences. In it the authors evaluate the consequences of the new general framework on social competences, analyse the evolution of the principle of subsidiarity and its impact in the new Treaty, look at the coordination of economic policies in the light of fundamental rights, and analyse the adoption in the Treaty of a new architecture for services of general interest.

Part I: The General Framework or Primacy of the Social Dimension (Principles) 1. The Lisbon Treaty, the Viking and Laval Judgments and the Financial Crisis: In Search of New Foundations for Europe's 'Social Market Economy' Simon Deakin2. Values and Objectives Filip Dorssemont3. The Lisbon Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union Csilla Kollonay-Lehoczky, Klaus Lörcher and Isabelle Schömann4. How the Horizontal Social Clause can be made to Work: The Lessons of Gender Mainstreaming Pascale Vielle5. The Role of the Social Partners in the Lisbon TreatyBruno VenezianiPart II: The Social Framework or Substance of the Social Dimension (Instruments) 6. Social Competences Klaus Lörcher7. The Principle of Subsidiarity in the Lisbon Treaty Thomas Blanke8. Economic Governance of the EU Crisis and its Social Policy Implications Niklas Bruun9. Services of General Interest and the Treaty of Lisbon Antoine JacobsConclusions: Concerning the Lisbon Treaty and Social Europe: A Complex Relationship that has only just started to Evolve Appendices: Recommendations by the Transnational Trade Union Rights (TTUR) Expert Group to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on the effective application of Article 152 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)