What is European Social Policy and does it promote the integration of European Societies?

The European Union (EU) is a political system with over 370 million citizens living within its borders. Therefore a prime aim of the EU is to attend to the needs of these citizens. It attempts to do this with social policies, although the individual member states already have their own comprehensive social policies, a primary part of which is the national welfare state. However, in order to foster integration among European societies, the EU has attempted to formulate its own social policies. Social policy can be broadly defined as policy relating to the rights, opportunities and benefits provided to potential, actual or former workers.[1] This essay aims to describe what European social policy is, and assess its effect on the integration of European societies….(short extract)