he EU has failed its citizens. It runs amok directed by Germany’s ossified and frail leader Angela Merkel, and a political class that primarily values its own entitlement.
The social partners asked the European Commission to forward their agreement for decision by the Council, in accordance with the procedures enshrined in the Treaty, so as to make it binding in the EU member states. Yet before the Commission had taken any initiative whatsoever, ten governments announced that they would oppose any form of regulation in this area.
B. Keller. European Union -- European industrial relations? Global challenge, national development and transitional dynamics, Routledge, London, (1998)