The EU and social protection: what should the European convention propose?

In: MPIfG Working Paper, Band 02/6

Abstract

"In this paper the author will discuss two interrelated questions: (1) What role, if any, should the European Union (EU) play in the development of social policy? (2) Does the proper role of the EU, as we would define it when answering the first question, require any changes to be made to the Treaty? If the answer to the second question is positive, the European Convention and the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) offer a unique opportunity to include the desired changes in a new European Treaty. The author's discussion of the EU's role in social policy will not be exhaustive. He will concentrate mainly on the development of social protection, thus not going into employment policy and related issues. Nor will he relate the discussion on social protection to the discussion on how member states can maintain the necessary funding for social programmes in a context of 'tax competition', nor to the debate on the future of the structural funds. This is not to say that these discussions are not important, quite on the contrary. However, his aim here is to examine the impact of the EU on the typical work of a national minister who is responsible for social protection (including health care), and what kind of EU such a minister would like to see develop now, and after the Convention. In the first part of this paper, the author will provide a succinct answer to his first question, concerning the role of the EU in social protection policy. In the second part, he will present a brief survey of the European agenda of 'social protection' ministers as it stands today, and suggest short-term proposals for the further development of that agenda, which do not presuppose changes to the Treaty. The second part will show that the social protection agenda has gained some momentum since the Lisbon Summit of March 2000, but also that it remains politically and institutionally fragile. In the third part of the paper, the author will elaborate on six proposals concerning the treaty. These proposals answer to the questions raised in the first part and to the post-Lisbon experience discussed in the second part." (extract)