European Union social policy would be considered more intergovernmental mostly by lack of concrete policy. In fact, most legislation passed in the EU is to promote social issues, while leaving out specific policies to do so. As far back as The Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957, there was a stipulation for equal pay for equal work, however this policy was largely ignored, and the only reason it was even mentioned was for economic reasons, France was worried about unfair competition. The 1970's were a time of revolution in the United States, and quality of life issues were suddenly in the spotlight. The EU was affected by this, and was forced to react by promoting both the improvement of life for workers in all of the EU, and the equality of benefits for all members of the EU. The individual countries biggest conc

ern, however, was the latter, since industry was likely to move to countries with looser standards of benefits to its workers. The European Regional Development Fund was agreed upon in 1973, and launched in 1975. The idea was to fund the development of poorer regions, in addition to the funds from the national level. These funds could only be used to improve infrastructure, and promote new jobs and industries. However, in keeping with the intergovernmental social policy of the EU, it was left up to the specific nations what regions would be selected for these funds. In 1989 the Social Charter was introduced, and, although the ideas were large, in reality it did very little. The idea of the Social Charter to promote fee movement of workers, improved working and living conditions for workers, programs for equality of gender and age, protection of children, and many other social issues. Unfortunately, it was very short on specifics on reaching these goals, and very little was actually done. Britain actually opted out of the Social Charter completely; arguing it was not interested in being involved in what they felt was a "socialist charter." The Maastricht Treaty, signed in 1991, included social goals, however since Britain did not want to go along with these, it opted out, and allowed the remaining 11 members to form a social community without Britain. The opting out of Britain led to the division of the EU, and it is questionable if any of these social goals can be met. In reality, decisions on equality are not made based on

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1040
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)