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This article aims at assessing the way the “Single Market” has been the ground of the development of a Social Dialogue and thus of a European labour legislation. It considers the institutional impact of the “Single Market” as compared to the “Common Market” initially designed by the Rome Treaty. The concept of “Single Market” was actually the result of a technical debate on the implementation of the former treaties. It has become a motive for the adoption of a new treaty, the “Single Act Treaty” that reinforced the prerogatives of the Commission and instituted the qualified majority vote for the Council. As a statement of an emerging reality, the “Single Market” is then taken as a general frame for discussions between the social partners overcoming the national policy level and tackling European issues. Beyond an abstract mechanism of adjustment between demand and supply, the “Single Market” defined a space for a legislative action at the European level. The social partners and the Commission evolved during the 1980's from common statements to legislative propositions that became concrete during the next decade.