Hardback
EU Enlargement versus Social Europe?
The Uncertain Future of the European Social Model
9781840646450 Edward Elgar Publishing
EU enlargement is higher than ever on the policy agenda and scholars and researchers of European Studies and social policy will find this book an invaluable reference.
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Critical Acclaim
Contents
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The decision to enlarge the European Union by ten (eventually thirteen) countries has surprisingly not been accompanied by much discussion of the implications for Social Europe. This has led to criticisms that enlargement is a purely economic process that will sweep aside important social considerations:
• Will the much lower labour costs and social standards in the applicant countries – especially those from Central and Eastern Europe – lead to ‘unfair’ competition or ‘social dumping’?
• Will this process in turn encourage current EU member-states to run-down their own social provisions in order to be able to compete with the newcomers?
• Do the specific features of this new accession wave – the largest enlargement so far and including markedly less-developed countries – threaten the global survival of the so-called ‘European Social Model’?
• What policies should be implemented in order to avoid a weakening of current European social standards?
These are the main questions this book attempts to answer, on the basis of a comprehensive assessment of the social policy areas most relevant to EU enlargement – wages, working conditions, social protection, employment, industrial relations – while also addressing its most sensitive ‘social dumping’ aspects: capital relocation, labour migration, and redirection of trade.
EU enlargement is higher than ever on the policy agenda and scholars and researchers of European Studies and social policy will find this book an invaluable reference.
• Will the much lower labour costs and social standards in the applicant countries – especially those from Central and Eastern Europe – lead to ‘unfair’ competition or ‘social dumping’?
• Will this process in turn encourage current EU member-states to run-down their own social provisions in order to be able to compete with the newcomers?
• Do the specific features of this new accession wave – the largest enlargement so far and including markedly less-developed countries – threaten the global survival of the so-called ‘European Social Model’?
• What policies should be implemented in order to avoid a weakening of current European social standards?
These are the main questions this book attempts to answer, on the basis of a comprehensive assessment of the social policy areas most relevant to EU enlargement – wages, working conditions, social protection, employment, industrial relations – while also addressing its most sensitive ‘social dumping’ aspects: capital relocation, labour migration, and redirection of trade.
EU enlargement is higher than ever on the policy agenda and scholars and researchers of European Studies and social policy will find this book an invaluable reference.
Critical Acclaim
‘. . . this book represents an important contribution to the debates about EU social policy and its effects upon the member states. . . the arguments contained here are important and deserve to be read by all with an interest in the future of social policy in Europe.’
– Rob Sykes, Journal of Social Policy
‘Having read this text, the social, economic and political policymakers of the EU and its Member States, along with a wider academic and non-academic audience, should be in a better position to understand the social dimension of the European integration process and be better able to defend and promote the development of an effective European Social Model.’
– Stuart Philip, European Foreign Affairs Review
‘Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead discusses the future of Social Europe with 25 and more countries, on the basis of a very detailed and well documented assessment of future member states. He rightly insists on the risks entailed by widening social and regional inequalities and the obsession with economic reforms, sometimes to the detriment of social and cohesion policies. However, he also points out that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe would benefit from a valorisation of solidarity, and that the European Union has everything it needs to boost the solidarity required to address the great imbalances that have emerged over the last decade. This book thus properly addresses the important question of solidarity in a greatly enlarged Europe and, more fundamentally, that of the future of its social model, something virtually unique to Europe. By opening up the issue of Social Europe, this crucial ‘construction site’, this book will contribute to the anticipation of eventual problems, and help us to overcome obstacles, both post-enlargement and in preparation for further accessions. The social dimension of the European construction is often little known and little understood in both current and future member states. However, it is the condition for making of the enlarged Europe not only a Europe of the economy and trade, but also a broad space combining competition, cooperation and solidarity, as well as an example of how to manage interdependencies and master globalisation.’
– From the foreword by Jacques Delors, President, Notre Europe
– Rob Sykes, Journal of Social Policy
‘Having read this text, the social, economic and political policymakers of the EU and its Member States, along with a wider academic and non-academic audience, should be in a better position to understand the social dimension of the European integration process and be better able to defend and promote the development of an effective European Social Model.’
– Stuart Philip, European Foreign Affairs Review
‘Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead discusses the future of Social Europe with 25 and more countries, on the basis of a very detailed and well documented assessment of future member states. He rightly insists on the risks entailed by widening social and regional inequalities and the obsession with economic reforms, sometimes to the detriment of social and cohesion policies. However, he also points out that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe would benefit from a valorisation of solidarity, and that the European Union has everything it needs to boost the solidarity required to address the great imbalances that have emerged over the last decade. This book thus properly addresses the important question of solidarity in a greatly enlarged Europe and, more fundamentally, that of the future of its social model, something virtually unique to Europe. By opening up the issue of Social Europe, this crucial ‘construction site’, this book will contribute to the anticipation of eventual problems, and help us to overcome obstacles, both post-enlargement and in preparation for further accessions. The social dimension of the European construction is often little known and little understood in both current and future member states. However, it is the condition for making of the enlarged Europe not only a Europe of the economy and trade, but also a broad space combining competition, cooperation and solidarity, as well as an example of how to manage interdependencies and master globalisation.’
– From the foreword by Jacques Delors, President, Notre Europe
Contents
Contents: Preface Part I: Candidate Countries and the Community ‘Social Acquis’: An Impossible Match? 1. The European Social Model and EU Enlargement 2. Wages and Working Conditions: Well Below EU Standards 3. Social Protection: Overwhelmed by the Liberal Approach 4. Employment: Towards Unregulated Labour Markets? 5. Social Dialogue: Why Bother? 6. Workers’ Participation: Slipping Away from the Self-Management Tradition? Part II: Social Dumping: Myth or Reality? 7. The Social Gap: A Source of ‘Unfair’ Competition? 8. Capital Mobility: Massive Relocations 9. Labour Mobility: The European Taboo 10. Trade: The Misleading Debate 11. Conclusion: An Uncertain Future after EU Enlargement Bibliography Index
