Book Reviews Kuhn, Heike. Die soziale Dimension der Europäischen Gemeinschaft. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1995. Pp. 451. This doctoral study traces the emergence of the `social dimension' of the European Community from the period before the Treaty of Rome to immediately following Maastricht. Kuhn finds that a `social deficit' has gradually become a predominant concern of European policy. While the Community institutions were initially divided over both the desirability and the possibility of encouraging a European Social Charter, there have been strong attempts for a long time now to replace national social regimes with equivalents developing on the European level. Kuhn describes the differences and the changes in attitude of the institutions as well as of the Member States towards the adoption of European social policies. While social policy has been regarded traditionally as a predominantly `national' concern, the book lays out the dynamics of a growing body of Community law, ranging from workplace safety to equal gender treatment. Two aspects, in particular, of Kuhn's study make it rewarding reading. Firstly, she points to the ambivalent meanings of the term `social' and the difficulty connected therewith to account for the nature of the various rules, norms and regulations originating on the European level. She makes the case for a broad interpretation of `social' policy arising from the shifting of, for example, unemployment, sickness and family allocations and other provisions in employment law from the national to the European level. Secondly, she discusses the areas where conflicts have been arising over the powers transferred by the Member States and the reach of the competencies of the European institutions. She outspokenly defends ECJ decisions, such as Katsikas, Francovich, Pinna (I, II), Pindone and Paletta. Drawing on a detailed description of the impact of these cases and the interpretation of the Treaty, Kuhn succeeds in arguing for a close, even inevitable connection between the development of rules governing the uninhibited movement of persons, goods, services and capital on the one hand, and a correspondingly sophisticated set of social norms on the other. It can be argued, in effect, that one may not be had without the other, underlining the particular quality of the emerging new legal order (cf. at 311: `real community of different states'; also at 336, with reference to the ECJ's decision in Costa/E.N.E.L., and in Van Gend & Loos, at 339). `Europe', characterized by the intertwining of economic, social, cultural and political structures on various levels, might - some day - be a vivid sphere of political deliberation and social justice, both initiated and reinforced by European citizens, only if the right pace is followed in the consolidation of an economic and monetary union with that of a socially sound political texture. Kuhn notes possible dangers to the unity of Community Law; in her conclusion, however, her optimism towards an ongoing effort to promote continuing integration prevails. Her technically detailed study highlights the steps taken by the developing social policy within a legal framework itself still searching for its full consolidation. Peer Zumbansen Institute of Commercial Law, University of Frankfurt
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