"On 1 May 2004, the European Union welcomed 10 additional states into membership bringing the number of Member States to 25.

The EU 15 (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK) were joined by the 10 Accession countries (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia).

Within a few years, the European Commission anticipates that the EU will expand further with the admission of Bulgaria and Romania possibly in 2007 and perhaps Turkey at a later date.

This paper examines the structures and roles of the different parts of the European trade union movement at:

* Pan-European level
* European sectoral level
* National level (for the new EU 25)
It also looks at two of the basic measures of union impact — trade union density and collective bargaining coverage (as well as identifying the main level of bargaining in each country).
The aim is modest: to set out the union actors in the different countries and at European level in order to assist a better understanding among both activists in the trade union movement and students of industrial relations.
This rough guide to the institutions of the trade union movement at national, EU and pan-European level does not attempt to explain the differences between the trade union movements in the countries of the new European Union. Still less is it an analysis of the problems faced and potential available on either the national or European stage.While focussing on the structures of the trade union movement at the different levels, this paper also refers in passing to union involvement in collective bargaining and social dialogue. A future paper on European-wide collective bargaining and social dialogue will provide a more detailed guide to the institutions and practices that have developed in the EU."

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