The value of social dialogue as a further in­strument for exercising influence on the shap­ing of the European social dimension has been enhanced by the Maastricht Treaty. Until now social dialogue in the form of tripartite discussions between the Commission, the em­ployers and the trade unions had never passed beyond the stage of"joint declara­tions". In future, expanded information and participation rights will be granted the Euro­pean collective bargaining parties; above all the new latitude and freedom with regard to determining and enforcing agreements will be observed. One piece of legislation intended by the EC in the area of working conditions and social policy is based on consultation with the bargaining parties. This obligation to con­sult with the relevant EC bodies is suspended if the bargaining parties declare that they are striving to reach a contract solution through bi­lateral negotiations. Free collective bargaining between the European parties will be given precedence over the legislative measures of the EC. With this step the way is also opened up for the bargaining parties to act on the European level as representatives for their members ­for the workers and for the employers. This new way of concluding contracts could pos­sibly lay the basis for the self-regulation of European working conditions; ie, free of state intervention. Reservations have already been raised by constitutional lawyers who maintain that the autonomy enjoyed by the bargaining parties goes too far and restricts the rights of the EC Parliament. In doing so they have pointed out(perhaps unwittingly) the scope of the proposed guidelines. It remains to be seen what use the trade unions will make of these offers. In fact, the EC and its often-maligned bureaucracy of 16,000 men and women(smaller than the ad­ministrative staff of a large German city and scarcely more than that of the GTUF) have created a number of intelligent conditions for the shaping of the European social union. Whoever perceives that Europe finds itself in a stage of on-going experimentation and that the European project is still unfinished is the 8 one who can grasp the opportunities which have been presented to a committed, active European Trade Unionist. Poor utilization of these opportunities will then be the fault of the trade unions. European Trade Union Diversity and Social Culture Much has already been written about the diversity of trade unions in terms of their structure and political orientation as well as the patchwork of wage systems and industrial relations. As a rule the opinion prevails that this variety will continue to grow and that it must be seen as the most important reason for the fact that the unions have arrived late on the European stage and are still acting in an inadequate manner. A few striking examples can illustrate this diversity: a) In contrast to the Central and North Euro­pean countries with their unitary, non-partisan trade unions, there are the trade union sys­tems of Belgium, France and the Mediter­ranean countries in which politically partisan unions compete against each other. b) Sectoral trade unions are to be found in Germany, while craft and general unions exist elsewhere. c) If the organizational strength of the unions is measured in terms of membership as a per­centage of the entire workforce, the differen­ces are extreme. The spectrum runs from under 10%(Spain and France), to a middle group(Germany, Italy and Great Britain) with 35-45% unionization, up to the frontrunners with more than 60%(Belgium, Austria and the Scan­danavian countries). Measured in absolute numbers, the German Trade Union Federation (with 11,800,000 members in unified Germany at the end of 1991) outnumbers all other ETUC associations.