EU TRADE POLICY AND A SOCIAL CLAUSE: A QUESTION OF COMPETENCES ?

After describing Europe's position on a social clause since the seventies, this article highlight the relevance of the competence dimension for explaining Europe's (in) capacity to export core labour standards through its trade regime. We argue that the vertical integration cleavage in EU politics sheds light on Europe's evolving stance and on the difficulties to reach a clear and common position on a social clause. The article illustrates how this proposal runs up against the limits of further European integration in both the external trade (trade-related issues) and the internal social (community role in ILO labour standards) domains.