Restructurations et interaction entre politiques sociales et fiscales nationales. Une réponse européenne au dumping social ?

The article examines the impact of European policies on restructurings by analyzing the interaction of national social and tax policies. The assessment addresses the challenges posed by regulatory competition and tax competition and examines current legislation and case law to identify the European response to these challenges. The analysis shows that the economic and social goals of the EC Treaty are treated as equal, however their balancing in individual cases may be determinative of the scope for regulatory competition. The article analyses how the case law of the European Court of Justice can be interpreted in the context of social dumping, and looks at the European response to tax competition, aiming to identify an economic rationale behind European governance in these fields. The article points out that social dumping is often defined as leading to lower standards, and argues for its definition as leading to decreased overall European welfare. It is further argued that the policy response to regulatory competition should not be designed without taking account of the external competitive pressure on the EU.