1 - What is the European social question?

Summary

The European social question concerns both the past and the future of the EU. Compared to other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), European citizens enjoy the highest level of social protection in the world. Yet, over the past three decades, social cohesion in Europe has been tremendously challenged by economic, technological and demographic change. All European countries are experiencing the degradation of the welfare state (albeit at different paces), the persistence of old and new forms of poverty and the rise of social inequality. The re-commodification of social rights has affected all advanced capitalist economies in the wake of finan¬cial capitalism. Against this background, how should we assess the role of the EU and what does it suggest going forward? Has the EU enhanced or, on the contrary, undermined social cohesion? Should its competences in this realm be strengthened or curtailed?

“Solidarity”, “equality between men and women” and “full employment and social progress” feature as main principles in the Treaty on the European Union (TEU). Incrementally, the European Community – later the EU – has created new transnational rights for mobile workers and citizens, and it now has a con¬siderable body of regulation based on the principle of non-discrimination. At the same time, the coming of age of a social union in its own right has remained elusive, and the promise of upward convergence was not kept. As the latest financial crisis has shown, what we have been witnessing is a widening of the gap between the continent's wealthy core and its peripheries. The humanitarian crisis provoked by the austerity pushed by the Troika in Greece (see Chapter 3) will remain a dark episode in Europe's history. With the outbreak of Covid-19 in January 2020, Europeans have had to face new challenges. The circulation of the virus led to the suspension of some fundamental liberties granted by the EU, such as the freedom of movement across countries. Although governments and the EU alike have rediscovered the importance of robust healthcare and educations systems – among other collective goods and welfare services – they have had to learn to act jointly vis-à-vis international pharmaceutical corporations to ensure the vaccination of the European population.