Special Issue 17 April 2019 Challenges to ‘united in diversity’ in a European Social Union: Taking the core–periphery conflict seriously By Vladimir Bogoeski In the context of Brexit and rising Euroscepticism across the continent that has focused on (mis)interpretations of the effects of labour mobility, the question of a European Social Union cannot sidestep the East-West chasm and treat the Eurozone as its only priority.
Political visions 16 April 2019 What to expect from Germany for the European Social Pillar and beyond By Marcel Hadeed Broader conceptual debates in German ministries notably circumnavigate the question of the currency union’s social dimension. Instead, digitalisation and demographic change are accorded the majority of German bureaucratic headspace
Special Issue 3 December 2018 The European Pillar of Social Rights: from promise to delivery – Introduction to the “European Social Union (ESU) public forum debate” By Frank Vandenbroucke We need an effective ‘roadmap for delivery’ of the European Pillar of Social Rights, based on the complementarity of existing EU instruments and a well-considered selection of priority initiatives. Which initiatives should feature in such a range of priorities?
Special Issue 3 December 2018 Crafting the ESU – Towards a roadmap for delivery By Maurizio Ferrera We have an Economic and Monetary Union. We must pronounce the birth of a fully-fledged institutional counterpart: a European Social Union (ESU). The year 2017 sealed the adoption of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), an important and valuable step forward, but not enough.
Special Issue 3 December 2018 Snakes and ladders on the road to ESU By Manos Matsaganis In joining this debate, I will focus on three topics: the constraints placed by diversity, and how to overcome them; the limits of unemployment (re)insurance, and the need to address new forms of ‘worklessness’; and the contribution of a European Social Union to the goal of coping with the transformations of work.
Special Issue 3 December 2018 Who’s afraid of the European Social Union? A contribution to the ESU debate By Anton Hemerijck Untold lessons from the Great Recession call for a transformation in the Eurozone governance regime from a ‘disciplining device’ over member welfare states into a European Social Union (ESU) as a ‘holding environment’ for active welfare states to prosper.
Public opinion 9 November 2018 Public support for Social Europe: A versatile reality By Sharon Baute To get the full picture of what specific designs of Social Europe are politically viable and legitimate, knowledge is needed on whether citizens’ interpretations of Social Europe are similar or vary across EU member states.
Policy focus 7 May 2018 Social policy in the European Union: from high hopes to high yields By Bart Vanhercke and Sebastiano Sabato A roadmap for the implementation of the Pillar should be tabled by the European Commission in the near future. Debates such as a Framework Directive on minimum income schemes or the setting-up of a common unemployment scheme could be relaunched. Furthermore, the commitment to fight poverty and social exclusion should be restated and concretised through more effective actions.
Policy focus 11 April 2018 Tripartite Social Summit 2018: difficulties on the horizon – A report By Francesco Corti and Patrik Vesan What emerged from the Tripartite Social Summit is a general convergence around the Social Fairness Package. The difficulties on the horizon, however, are manifold.
Political visions 26 February 2018 No, Germany and Italy do not share the same EU vision By Alexander Damiano Ricci A couple of weeks ago, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, met on the occasion of a bilateral meeting, in Berlin. The two leaders said that they share the “same vision concerning the future of Europe”. Coupling the joint statement of Gentiloni and Merkel with the French-German entente sieged by the GroKo deal, one could argue that there exists an ideal match between the reformist visions of the centre-left and centre-right governing parties in France, Germany and Italy.