THE IMPACT OF THE COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION SOCIAL POLICY

Social policy as a subject of welfare state has been studied mostly from the point of citizenship rights. Yet, the regulations of social policies at the European Union (EU) level are increasing day by day, which makes it an important subject for the European studies. Therefore, it is necessary to seek an answer to the question of how social policies that have been perceived as main subject of national policies have become part of the European legislation. This research attempts to answer this question. The research benefits from the cases of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) as an explanatory factor, following the elaboration of social policy and European integration relationship. Thus, a bridge between various welfare systems and a uniformed EU social policy is more likely to be built. The paper argues that as the selected cases, Viking and Laval indicate, the CJEU is an important actor that promotes the argument about social policies at the EU level. The cases are not offering only a solution to the pertinent problem but also supporting more consistent social policies in the member states of the EU thanks to its “spill- over” impact.