Social Europe: One for all?

Social Europe: One for all?:
The Monitoring European Integration series from the Centre for Economic Policy Research aims to provide an annual assessment of the progress of, and obstacles encountered by, economic integration in Europe. The latest report, the eighth in the series, provides a detailed analysis of European labour markets, and sets out specific recommendations for the design and implementation of social policies within the EU. The Report discusses many of the issues raised in the debate surrounding the Social Chapter of the Maastricht Treaty. Can Member States continue to implement their own social policies at the national level or must responsibility pass to the EU level? Is 'social dumping' inevitable in the absence of a common EU social policy? If provisions are needed, should they take the form of minimal agreements, or should there be exceptions for particular countries? How should the circumstances of the potential new members from Central and Eastern Europe be taken into account when designing current EU directives concerning social policy? Is social dumping to be welcomed, as a healthy force which will oblige countries to lighten the excessive and damaging regulations they impose on their labour markets?

The report is structured as follows: Chapter one lays out the historical record regarding EU social policy, and discusses whether EU policies presently constrain national policies. A discussion of the analytical issues occurs in Chapter two, with a review of the interaction between economic integration and the distribution of income. Chapter three considers the implications of integration for both the demand and supply of social policies, together with the pros and cons of co-ordination or harmonisation through common standards on the one hand and subsidiarity on the other. Chapter four reviews the experience with the enlargement of the Community to include Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain, and draws some comparisons with the prospective enlargement of the EU to the East. The final chapter draws the various strands together in looking at the strains on Europe's inclusive welfare states resulting from competition, migration and the introduction of the euro; the prospects for social policies beyond the Millennium; and the special problems posed by eastward enlargement.

Bean, Charles (et al.)
Social Europe: One for all?
Monitoring European Integration, No.8
Centre for Economic Policy Research, 1998
ISBN: 1-898128-33-2
Price: £10.00

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