DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF EUROPE
Geographically, Europe consists of the western part of the landmass of which Asia forms the eastern (and much greater) part, and includes Scandinavia, the British Isles and a number of smaller islands. It is broadly framed to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east by the Ural mountains.
Politically, the borders of Europe have been less clear. In some formulations only western Europe is included; in others Russia is too. In addition, the south-eastern edge of Europe has been a subject of particular debate for the last generation. Jean Monnet (1888–1979), one of the founders of the European Community, once asserted: ‘Europe has never existed. It is not the addition of national sovereignties in a conclave which creates an entity. One must genuinely
create Europe’ (Knowles, 1999: 526; from Anthony Sampson, The New Europeans, 1968, quoting Jean Monnet). The creation of a ‘united Europe’ was spurred by a desire for international reconciliation after World War II. Its first expression was the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, founded by the Treaty of Paris in 1951 between Belgium, rance, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. Thanks to the Treaty, coal
168 I n t e r n a t i o n a l H u m a n R e s o u r c e Ma n a g e m e n t and steel resources could be pooled between ‘the Six’ countries, thus creating the basis for a greater common market. With the Treaty of Rome in 1957, ‘the Six’ agreed the framework for a more comprehensive European Economic
Community (EEC). With the EEC started a colossal endeavour to harmonise policies, touching areas of indirect taxation, regulation, border control, agriculture and fisheries, as well as monetary matters. In 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom (UK) joined the EEC. They were followed by Greece in 1981, Portugal and Spain in 1986. In 1987, the Europe of ‘the Twelve’ signed the Single European Act. This came into force on 1 January 1993, creating for
the first time a single market, which enabled the free movement of goods, services and people. The EEC became the European Union (EU), with significant implications for HRM. Following German reunification in 1990, the EEC enlarged to include the former East Germany. Later, in 1995, Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the EU, creating a ‘Europe of Fifteen’. The EU-15 comprises more than 375 million citizens (compared to around 280 million in the US), over an
area of 3,191,000 square km (compared to 9,159,115 square km for the US) (EIU Viewswire, 2002). Economically, it is one of the powerhouses of the world.
An important historical step was taken on 1 January 2002 with the introduction of a single currency, the Euro, across the EU (with the exception of Denmark, Sweden and the UK). This economic union has been accompanied by a desire to create and strengthen political and institutional co-ordination across the member states (the European Parliament, the European Court of Justice) and above all by a growing sense of European identity amongst EU citizens.
The EU Charter of Fundamental Social Rights, established in 1989, (see Table 7.1) is but one manifestation of this. Towards European HRM.
The establishment of the EU and the Charter have had significant implications for employing organisations and for HRM. As elsewhere, HRM in Europe is in transition but the circumstances here are unparalleled in history. There is a question about whether a distinct European HRM culture is in the making. In anticipation of the creation of the single European market, prior to 1993, organisations were beginning to review their strategies to take advantage of the
markets, freed from border tariffs, which were going to open before them. The 1990s witnessed an unprecedented number of mergers and acquisitions in Europe as organisations sought to develop an integrated Europe (see Chapter 4). This led HRM professionals across the different countries to start conversations: first, to map what practices prevailed at the national and industry level (Brewster et al., 2001); and second, to find common ground for European HRM policy. Communal (1999) reports such conversations between Swedish and