"Collective bargaining systems in Europe are under pressure from EU policy in the form of recent case law from the European Court of Justice and from measures of economic governance. From a predominantly legal point of view, the paper identifies and explains the types of impulses and possible adjustments that these pressures have inspired with regard to the position of the social partners in central and eastern Europe, considering the weak role of the social partners and the underdeveloped social dialogue structures in that part of the European Union. The author highlights that the more resolute implications for central and eastern Europe are likely to come from EU- and liberal-inspired changes in economic governance. Nevertheless, the author believes that the present legal systems of most countries in the region do not offer enough support and capacity for bargaining at sectoral level, or additional forms of flexibility at company level, and that an over-reliance on government is likely to be a source of severe difficulty in the face of the Europeanisation project. "

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