Authors Iain Begg | Gabriel Glöckler | Anke Hassel ... - The Europaeum

So what kind of social role for the EU? Governments, policymakers,
academics, trade unions and businesses generally agree that, operating on
unchanged policies, the EU will grow at a dismally low pace which could
lead to social tensions and protectionism; that human capital and skills,
social investment and innovation, employment and welfare state
modernisation are indispensible to meet the challenges of the global age;
that uncoordinated action by individual member states, within the EU as
well as in the global arena, is the worst possible course of action. The
problem is that while the diagnosis is clear, there is remarkably little
consensus on the specifics of a (national or European) cure. Even the
widespread critiques of financial capitalism that the crisis has engendered
have failed to produce a common view on national social policies, or a
consensus on the social role of the EU, whereas the European Social Model
of the 1990s, synonymous with Continental welfare states and social
protection regimes, appears as an unsatisfactory answer to the new
challenges of EU27.
The added value of the EU
EU integration tends to blossom in times of growth and hibernate during
economic downturns: it will have to do the opposite now. The new
European Parliament and the Commission begin their five-year mandates
with an acute awareness that the credibility of the EU will rest on its
capacity to forge a narrative and an exit strategy from the crisis. This is
difficult, but not impossible: if managed well, the crisis can serve as an
opportunity to ensure that growth outcomes go hand-in-hand with
environmental, employment and social outcomes, leading to a more
balanced approach where quality of life and distributive aims have a more
prominent role in the European project and in its global impact.
Each of the key challenges for the EU in the next decade has a strong
employment and social dimension: exploiting the job potential of a greener
economy; shaping globalisation by increasing productivity and competing
for talent in a knowledge-based society; and adapting Europe’s employment
and social structures to demographic ageing. The crisis has not changed
any of these challenges, but it has added a sense of urgency to the need for
socio-economic reform and innovation: the severe constraints in public
spending require more efficient public services; economic restructuring
calls for more flexible and inclusive labour markets and a massive increase
in people’s skills and employability.
EU institutions and policies will not be the main actors in addressing these
issues: the core responsibility for employment and social policies, for
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After the crisis: A new socio-economic settlement for the EU