Inform, consult, impose

摘要

In A recent speech on the future of the European Union, Lionel Jospin, the French prime minister, argued that, after a decade in which the eu's emphasis had been on building a single market, it was time to concentrate on "social Europe". So this week the French were delighted by an agreement of the Council of Ministers on a new directive, strengthening the obligations on European firms to "inform and consult" workers' representatives about company strategy.