AbstractThe involvement of individuals affected by the decisions of social and political institutions in the decision-making process is a democratic necessity in the highly-industrialized society of today. This is the main tenet of the European Commission's green discussion paper on employee participation. The practical aspects of the problem can be summed up by two questions: what laws are applicable to enterprises in general and to companies in particular? andwhat is the role of an enterprise's employees in the decisionmaking process?Extracts from the green paper are given below: