Working Environment and 'Soft Law' in the Post-Communist New Member States*

Current, admittedly incomplete evidence, suggests a deteriorating working environment in the new Member States of central and eastern Europe. Moreover, support for occupational health and safety regulation concerning the working environment appears to be limited among business and political elites in the new Member States. This has created a lack of policy ‘reform fit’ between the ‘social dimension’ of a European social model and domestic agendas dominated by more ‘business-friendly’ free market considerations. The European Commission has also currently adopted ‘deregulationary’ assumptions concerning the need to ‘simplify’ the acquis, as well as advocating ‘soft law’ as an alternative to traditional regulatory instruments such as directives. However, the lack of contextual industrial relations supports, in particular, the power imbalance in industrial relations due to the weakness of trade unions and social dialogue at workplace level, make uncertain prospects for ‘soft law’ as a strategy for working environment improvements in the new Member States.