General Reports
Authors: Frank Vandenbroucke Publisher: The Amsterdam Centre For European Studies
Income redistribution and insurance are core functions of welfare states. What role should the EU play in this domain? I examine the purchase of normative theorizing on social justice on this question, building on the contrast between three models of EU involvement: the EU as Support, which implies the sharing of resources through intergovernmental transfers; the EU as Provider, which implies EU cross-border transfers towards individual citizens; the EU as Guide or Guarantor, which implies that the EU formulates normative policy ideals. I review different normative accounts of justice for the EU (Ronzoni, Viehoff, Sangiovanni, Van Parijs), and how they bear on the choice between these models of EU involvement in welfare state solidarity. These accounts evolve between two extreme positions. On the one hand, an account based on supranational justice as ‘background justice for nation states’ implies that the EU should be a mere instrument in the hands of its member states. The opposite extreme position is that EU should be a laboratory for international distributive justice, whereby national welfare states are demoted to the toolbox of instruments. I argue that an account of justice for the EU must search for a middle ground, whereby neither the national welfare states nor the EU are demoted to mere instruments. I conclude that the EU should support the member states’ welfare states in some of their key functions, on the basis of common social standards and in pursuit of upward convergence. Such a ‘Social Union’ would be a Support, Guide and Guarantor, both in the realm of insurance and redistribution. Through the establishment of interstate insurance, it would be a true ‘insurance union’, but, from the point of view of individual citizens, it would not become a direct Provider of insurance. It would engage in interstate redistribution, but not in interpersonal cross-border redistribution.
Authors: Lorenzo Cicchi, Philipp Genschel, Anton Hemerijck and Mohamed Nasr Publisher: EUI – Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
European solidarity is in high demand as the Covid-19 pandemic delivers a deep and asymmetric shock to EU economies and societies. Will there be sufficient supply? Using new EUI survey evidence on attitudes towards European solidarity, conducted by YouGov in 13 EU member states and the UK (April 2020), this paper explores the determinants of public support for common sharing and explores viable strategies for leveraging them. Our analysis reveals a number of important findings: solidarity is national first, to neighbours next, and only distantly European. Still, European solidarity is more than skindeep. It varies by crisis type, with strong solidarity in case of exogenous shocks like a pandemic and weak solidarity in case of endogenously created problems such as, potentially, debt crises. By and large, European citizens’ view solidarity as a reciprocal benefit rather than a moral or identity-based obligation. In terms of instrumentation, they prefer permanent arrangements of risk and burden sharing to ad hoc mutual assistance. While support for European solidarity tends to be associated with the perception of the own country being a net beneficiary of EU support, there is no clear evidence of a clear North-West versus South-East cleavage, as the common narrative of Northern creditors and Southern debtors implies. Our findings suggest a series of political recommendations to policy makers who wish to increase the supply of European solidarity today: emphasize reciprocity rather than identity; underscore the exogenous ‘natural disaster-type’ quality of the pandemic, rather than national differences in coping with it; focus on the common interest in a broad recovery rather than past debt dynamics. And, finally, ‘talk tough’ to the ‘frugal four’ (Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden). As our findings reveal, these small open economies are unlikely to leave the European Union.
Authors: Publications Production Unit (PRODOC) of the ILO Publisher: International Labour Organization 2020 Date: 2020
The Global Employment Policy Review (GEPR) is a new biennial publication prepared by the Employment Policy Department of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The purpose of the GEPR is to advance the ILO’s contribution to global employment policy debates by giving greater visibility to current policy-oriented research, as well as to spur new policy-oriented research. The GEPR brings together contributions from the ILO’s wider global employment policy team, including ILO colleagues both at headquarters and in field offices, with the latter providing a strong regional perspective on economic policy debates. The GEPR was conceived as a “review” rather than a “report” because it is not a report in the usual sense of the word. At the core of the GEPR are a set of thematic chapters that address both persistent and emerging policy challenges and do not shy away from challenges that are difficult or indeed contentious. Each chapter is meant to be self-contained and to represent the viewpoints of the respective authors, while endeavouring to present clear policy messages. At the same time, the chapters have been selected to best demonstrate the ILO’s current thinking on global employment policy challenges. The GEPR places a special emphasis on policy design and implementation so that its chapters will have as much relevance as possible to countries that are in the process of developing and introducing new employment policies, as well as reforming existing ones.
Authors: Monika SZPEJNA, Zahra BOUDALAOUI-BURESI Publisher: Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies Directorate-General for Internal Policies Date: October 2020
This in-depth analysis examines the current EU labour law instruments for workers’protection and highlights existing gaps in coverage which may require further action. It analyses a selection of directives in order to determine how non-standard workers are often excluded from their scope of application, and the extent to which newer instruments account for a broader variety of employment relationships. This document was provided by the Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies at the request for the committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL).
Authors: Tina Weber, John Hurley, Dragoș Adăscăliței Publisher: EUROFOUND Date: March 2021
This report sets out to assess the initial impact of the COVID-19 crisis on employment in Europe (up to Q2 2020), including its effects across sectors and on different categories of workers. It also looks at measures implemented by policymakers in a bid to limit the negative effects of the crisis. It first provides an overview of policy approaches adopted to mitigate the impact of the crisis on businesses, workers and citizens. The main focus is on the development, content and impact of short-time working schemes, income support measures for self-employed people, hardship funds and rent and mortgage deferrals. Finally, it explores the involvement of social partners in the development and implementation of such measures and the role of European funding in supporting these schemes.
Authors: Isabella Biletta, Jorge Cabrita, Franz Ferdinand Eiffe, Barbara Gerstenberger, Agnès Parent-Thirion, Llave Oscar Vargas, Tina Weber Publisher: EUROFOUND Date: February 2021
This flagship report summarises the key findings of Eurofound’s research on working conditions conducted over the programming period 2017–2020. It maps the progress achieved since 2000 in improving working conditions and examines whether all workers have benefited equally from positive change. It highlights which groups are the most at risk of experiencing poor working conditions and being left behind. Given the changes in the world of work, emerging challenges for good job quality are identified. The report also provides evidence for measures that could lead to the further improvement of work and the achievement of fair working conditions for all in the EU. The analysis shows that, overall, job quality in the EU is improving, if slowly. Not all workers are benefiting to the same extent, however. Furthermore, gender, age and contractual status have a significant bearing on a person’s working conditions. And while digitalisation helps to address some job quality issues, it also creates new challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated trends, reinforcing concerns and highlighting the importance of achieving job quality for all.
Authors: Slavina Spasova, Dalila Ghailani, Sebastiano Sabato, Stéphanie Coster, Boris Fronteddu and Bart Vanhercke Publisher: ETUI aisbl, Brussels Date: March, 2021
The lockdown and other restrictive measures introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic recession have had a strong impact on labour markets worldwide. As far as the European Union (EU) is concerned, the accelerated fall in total employment was the ‘sharpest decline ever observed over two successive quarters since 1995’. Unemployment, however, decreased moderately over 2020, although to differing extents in individual Member States and at different paces during the various lockdown phases. This exceptional and unpredictable context puts the pivotal role of social protection squarely in the spotlight, reminding policymakers and citizens of the essential role of strong social security to cushion against potential disastrous social impacts and job destruction. Various job retention schemes have played an important role as automatic stabilisers to preserve millions of jobs.
Publisher: OSE- European Social Observatory Date: 2009-2020
The series takes the form of three different publications available in English or French. The “Research Papers” are intended to disseminate results of research by the OSE, associated researchers or colleagues from the OSE network. The “Briefing Papers” contain readily accessible and regular information on a variety of topics. The “Opinion Papers” consist of concise policy-oriented opinions.
Authors: Frank Vandenbroucke, Maarten Keune, Maurizio Ferrera, Francesco Corti Date: February 19, 2021
Over the last few years, the European Commission has repeatedly emphasized that, in the face of global uncertainty, the EU has to strengthen its social dimension and foster better working and living conditions for its citizens. To achieve this, the EU wants to strengthen social citizenship by advancing social rights, implementing the principles in the European Pillar of Social Rights at both the European and national level. The overarching objective of the EuSocialCit project, of which this paper is part, is to examine the state of EU social citizenship as well as possible policy scenarios that may strengthen it. This prompts initial foundational questions for the project: what is the nature of EU social citizenship and the social rights associated with it? And, what is the rationale for the EU to be involved in providing social rights? In order to understand the state and nature of EU social citizenship and the role that the EU plays in this now and in the future, we believe that it is necessary to ‘dissect’ the constitutive elements of social rights at the various levels (local, national and EU) at which they are provided. To this end, this paper develops a resource-based and multi-level conception of social rights. With regard to the rationale, we offer an overview of the main approaches that prevail in the long-standing debate on the justification and feasibility of a stronger EU social citizenship and present a synthesis of these approaches that may help further the debate.
Publisher: European Commission Date: 2019
ESDE confirms the continued expansion of the EU’s economy, all-time records for high employment and low unemployment as well as an improving social situation with the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) continuing to fall below its pre-crisis level.
Nonetheless, ageing, globalisation, technological transformation, climate change and geopolitical uncertainties challenge the sustainability of these achievements and the EU’s socio-economic model. Citizens increasingly expect policymakers to accelerate the transition to a socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable economy that benefits the well-being of all and leaves nobody behind. This is why the 2019 ESDE is dedicated to the theme of sustainability with a focus on its social dimension. ESDE discusses policy options that can preserve the EU’s competitiveness, sustain growth for the entire EU population and future generations, while transitioning to a climate-neutral economy. Making this a just transition requires mainstreaming social considerations upfront, in the design phase as well as in the implementation of all policies.
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