The financial crisis, poverty and vulnerability. From social investment to an EU Social Union? (Workpackage 7)

Research paper on revising European governance and the principle of subsidiarity: from quantitative macro-indicators to human rights-based benchmarking and the collective search for the best levels of governance.

During the financial crisis poverty, precarious work and vulnerability to poverty have increased in the EU and most notably in the severely hit Southern and Eastern EU member countries. Whereas the EU leaders undertook action for financial and monetary consolidation, under the principle of subsidiarity, social policy to tackle poverty, deprivation and vulnerability remained the responsibility of member states. This is also reflected in the politics of the Social Investment Package. Therein lies a contradiction at the heart of the EU approach to welfare and social policy: meeting the needs of people is a national responsibility but the means, i.e. national finances, are constrained and regulated at EU level. Breaking financial rules is met with sanctions, whilst social objectives remain just ‘objectives’ with very little financial backing provided by the EU to achieve them. Under the Juncker Commission, the SIP has been complemented by the launch of the European Pillar of Social Rights that - if backed up by appropriate legislation and setting up of rules similar to the European Monetary Union -, some argue, would strengthen the social dimension of the EU leading to a European Social Union.