Abstrakt
Social market economy became a goal of the EU with the signature of the Lisbon Treaty. The question hence arises whether a more socially oriented EU can enforce its competition rule in the same way as before due to the fact that under many circumstances the free and undistorted competition would be incompatible with measures and agreements protecting social rights and social welfare of workers.
The paper thus focuses first on the place of competition in the social market economy concept and then on the coexistence of competition rules and social protection in the case law of the European Court of Justice.