Analyses

The Analyses section provides brief research notes relating to four main streams: social media, political visions, public opinion and policy focus.

24 April 2020

From moral hazard to moral opportunity. A dialogue on the COVID-19 crisis and the EU

By euvisions

The COVID-19 crisis has suddenly reopened the long-standing controversy over solidarity between countries within the EU. As it was during the Great Recession, the rift between "frugal" and "spendthrift" member states has resurfaced, creating a challenge to address the COVID-19 emergency as a pan-European emergency. How can we escape this trap?

24 April 2020

Immigration, free movement and the politicisation of demography. The move of Hungary to demographic nationalism

By Anna Kyriazi

Hungary faces adverse demography due to low birthrates and large-scale emigration. The government’s skewed focus on pronatalism puts the burden on the most vulnerable and undermines emancipatory politics.

17 April 2020

Are we SURE? A critical assessment of the Commission’s proposal for temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency

By Francesco Corti and Cinzia Alcidi

On 1 April, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced the proposal to create a new instrument for temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE), to allow for financial aid in the form of loans from the Union to those Member States which are facing sudden increases in public expenditure for the preservation of employment.

10 April 2020

EU welfare states through the crisis: losing track of social investment?

By Stefano Ronchi

The European social investment momentum came to a halt in the years of the crisis. Retrenchment rather than investment became an option for EU welfare states under strain.

9 March 2020

The European Social Fund: Policy Dossier

By Niccolo Donati

This policy dossier is part of a series of analyses on the financial instruments available to the European Social Union (ESU). The European Social Fund is one of the longest-standing instruments of supranational policy available to the EU. The dossier will deal with the ESF history, policy goals, budget and visibility.

28 January 2020

The economic dimension in the electoral programmes of European political groups

By Pietro Regazzoni

The last European Parliament election campaign benefited from a greater interest on the part of EU citizens in the May 2019 European elections than previous elections; economic issues were at the core of citizens’ concerns. Do the electoral manifestos presented by the European political groups reflect these concerns?

20 January 2020

Europe and the welfare state in the debate about Italian budgetary law

By Francesco Castelli

No more than one year ago, the Italian government – at the time supported by a Yellow Green majority, with the Five Star Movement and the League as main shareholders – and the EU Commission were fighting a long battle over the Italian national budget. With the EU denouncing the substantial imbalances in the Italian budget draft and the Conte cabinet defending its budget ‘for the people’, social policies and welfare were de facto bones of contention between Rome and Brussels. We use Twitter communication data to try to shed light on how the political debate on this topic unfolded.

9 December 2019

EU-related discussions in 2019 Spanish general elections: a Twitter study

By Francesco Castelli

On April 28 Spanish citizens went to the polls to renew the Cortes Generales, the Spanish bicameral parliament. The 2019 ballot has been a peculiar one for at least two reasons: on the one hand, it has been a snap election, held after the resigning of the Sanchez government and the consequent dissolution of the Parliament. The election campaign was expected to run along two lines: one focused on the urgent internal crisis – tied to the events in Catalonia – and one hinging on the upcoming European elections. Did the Twitter public debate about the Spanish general elections follow these two lines?

2 December 2019

Is free movement a threat or a boost to welfare states?

By Maria Giulia Montanari

Mobile European citizens have been repeatedly alleged to represent a burden on national welfare systems. Nevertheless, this might not emerge to be the case when one considers real data. Leaving public misperceptions about migration aside, this article points out the pros and cons of EU free movement for national welfare budgets.

18 November 2019

Luci sul lavoro: a festival on the future of the labour market – prospects in Italy and the EU

By Francesco Corti

From the 11th to the 13th of July 2019, policymakers and public intellectuals met in Montepulciano to debate the recent developments of labour market policy from the perspective of European social policy.

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«The fight against poverty seems to have become a fundamental and ever-present element of the social dimension of the EU, which cannot be left aside, not even when all eyes are directed at public finances.»

Analyses

Analyses

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