Chairs
George Katrougalos gkatrougalos@yahoo.gr
Stella Christoforidou christoforidoustyliani@yahoo.gr

There is no clear definition of social dumping. However, it is a term that is increasingly used in public debate. The term is mostly used to describe the reduction of the level of social protection for the sake of competition, either on the part of companies through the adoption of unfair practices to increase profits or on the part of the state in its attempt to attract more investors from the private sector. Either way, these are practices with a negative impact on social rights. The EU has, for example, attempted to address this issue in the internal market with the directive on adequate minimum wages, but again leaving a wide margin of discretion to the Member States and thus making the effectiveness of protection against wage dumping uncertain.

Given the above, it is worth exploring the concept and content of social dumping from a constitutional perspective, whether other cases beyond labor rights and social security can be included – for example, the underfunding of public hospitals or universities that de facto benefits the private sector can be considered social dumping?-, whether the social acquis theory responds to the new challenges of the era of open markets, whether social dumping as such could constitute a violation of social rights, and under what circumstances this could be examined by the courts – beyond or with the help of general principles such as human dignity, equality, proportionality, decent living, etc.

In addressing the above, the international or regional framework for the protection of social rights, as well as the framework for the liberalisation of markets, privatisation, and issues relating to the role of the state and its obligations towards both citizens and subjects of international law, as well as any other relative issue under a holistic perspective, can be taken into consideration.