[Excerpt] Industrial relations are at the core of the Member States' economic and social organisation. They play their part in creating an area of solidarity within Europe, where people rally together and participate. The first edition of this report described the distinctive features of the Europeanisation of industrial relations and the significant changes over recent years. We saw the extent to which the development of industrial relations was linked to that of European integration. The 2002 report reviews a number of notable trends, in particular the organisation of new European players at sectoral level and the preparations for enlargement, and outlines the principal advances in labour relations in Europe in the course of 2000 and 2001.