EU Trade Policy and the Social Clause: A Question of Skills?

After describing Europe’s position on a social clause since the 1970s, this paper highlights the relevance of the competence dimension in explaining Europe’s (in)capacity to export core labor standards through its trade regime. We argue that the vertical cleavage in EU politics sheds light on Europe’s evolving stance and on the difficulties involved in reaching a clear and common position on a social clause. The paper illustrates how this proposal runs up against the limits to further European integration in external trade (trade-related issues) and in the internal social domain (a community role in ILO labor standards).