The highly fragmented, layered and complex regulatory policy framework of the European Union hides a wealth of resources for social Europe. This article aims at exploring the social opportunities offered in this intricate legal framework on the basis of the resource-based understanding identified in the first contribution of this Special Issue by Corti, Ferrera and Keune. Accordingly, it pinpoints and discusses several guaranteed subjective powers to obtain certain social benefits or services in each of the pre-identified tripod of power resources: normative, instrumental and enforcement power resources. The analysis contradicts, to some extent, the negligible role attributed to EU law in terms of social rights. Overall, it finds that there exist abundant power resources at the EU level. Whereas these certainly add to the plethora of resources available to reach a certain standard of living, this abundancy is paired with a heightened complexity. Consequently, it is not always clear how the power resources interact among each other. Moreover, there is a disproportionate use of the tripod. Binding normative resources are used rather marginally in comparison to instrumental and enforcement resources, which is not necessarily a consequence of the lack of competence at the EU level.
AranguizA (2018) Social mainstreaming through the European pillar of social rights: shielding ‘the social’ from ‘the economic’ in EU policymaking. European Journal of Social Security20(4): 341–363.
2.
AranguizA (2021) Bringing the EU up to speed in the protection of living standards through fundamental social rights: drawing positive lessons from the experience of the council of Europe. Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law28(5): 601–625.
3.
AranguizACortiF (2023) Bridging the last mile towards a European social citizenship: the case of the equality bodies and the European labour Authority. (Forthcoming in European Law Journal).
4.
BaioccoSAlcidiCCortiF, et al. (2021) Changing Social Investment Strategies in the European Union. Amsterdam: EuSocialCit Working Paper.
5.
BarnardC (2020) Are social ‘rights’ rights?European Labour Law Journal11(4): 351–363.
6.
BauböckRGuiraudonV (2009) Introduction: realignments of citizenship: reassessing rights in the age of plural memberships and multi-level governance. Citizenship Studies13(5): 439–450.
7.
BellM (2011) The principle of non-discrimination within the fixed-term work directive. In: MoreauMA (ed) Before and after the Economic Crisis: What Implications for the European Social Model?Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 169–188.
8.
BörnerS (2020) Marshall revisited: EU social policy from a social-rights perspective. Journal of European Social Policy30(4): 421–435.
9.
BorrasSRadaelloC (2010) Recalibrating the Open Method of Coordination: Towards Diverse and More Effective Usages. Stockholm: Swedish Institute for Social Policy.
10.
BruzeliusCSeeleib-KaiserM (2021) Social citizenship in federations: free movement and social assistance rights in the EU and beyond. West European Politics44(7): 1532–1554.
11.
BruzeliusCReinprechtCSeeleib-KaiserM (2017) Stratified social rights limiting EU citizenship. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies55: 1239–1253.
12.
CiniM (2004) European Union Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
13.
ClaassenRGerbrandyAPrincenS, et al. (2019) Four models of protecting citizenship and social rights in Europe: conclusions to the special issue ‘rethinking the European social market economy. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies57(1): 159–174.
14.
CortiFNuñez-FerrerJ (2021) Steering and monitoring the Recovery and resilience plans: reading between the lines. In: CEPS Recovery and Resilience Reflection Papers No. 2. Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).
15.
Council of the EU (2019) Enhancing Anti-discrimination in the European Union: A Policy Debate. Brussels: Council of the EU.
16.
Council of the EU (2020) Conclusions 9 October 2020 on Strengthening Minimum Income Protection to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion in the Covid-19 Pandemic and beyond. Brussels: Council of the EU.
17.
CullenP (2003) PhD dissertation In: Sponsored Mobilization: European Union Non Governmental Organizations, International Governance and Activism for Social Rights. New York: State University of New York.
18.
de la PorteCEmmeneggerP (2017) The Court of Justice of the European Union and fixed-term work: putting a brake on labour market dualization?Journal of European Social Policy27(3): 295–310.
19.
De VriesS (2013) Balancing fundamental rights with economic freedoms according to the European Court of Justice. Utrecht Law Review9(1): 169–192.
20.
DouganM (2015) Judicial review of member state action under the general principles and the charter: defining the ‘scope of union law. Common Market Law Review52(2): 1201–1245.
European Commission (2019) More Efficient Decision-Making in Social Policy: Identification of Areas for an Enhanced Move to Qualified Majority Voting. Brussels: European Commission. 186.
23.
European Commission (2021) European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan. Brussels: European Commission.
24.
FaistT (2001) Social citizenship in the European union: nested membership. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies39(1): 37–58.
25.
FerreraMCortiFKeuneM (2023) Social citizenship as a marble cake: the changing pattern of right production. Journal of European Social Policy. DOI: 10.1177/09589287231210464
26.
FrazerHMarlierEd. (2018) Building a Stronger EU Social Inclusion Process: Analysis and Recommendations of the EU Network of Independent National Experts on Social Inclusion. Brussels: European Commission.
27.
GarbenS (2018) The problematic interaction between EU and international law in the area of social rights. Cambridge International Law Journal7(1): 77–98.
28.
GarbenS (2019) The European pillar of social rights: an assessment of its meaning and significance. Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies21: 101–127.
29.
GarbenS (2023) ‘Institutional Report’ in European Social Union. Sofia: The XXX Fide Congress Publications, Vol. 3.
30.
GeddesA (2004) The European Union and British Politics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
31.
GreenwoodJ (2017) Interest Representation in the European Union. London: Palgrave.
32.
HantraisL (2007) Social Policy in the European Union. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
33.
HatzopoulosV (2007) Why the open method of coordination is bad for you: a letter to the EU. European Law Journal13: 309–342.
34.
HoffmanS (1991) The New European Community: Decisionmaking and Institutional Change. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
35.
KennettPLendvai-BaintonN (eds) (2017) Handbook of European Social Policy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
36.
KilpatrickC (2018) The displacement of social Europe: a productive lens of inquiry. European Constitutional Law Review14(1): 62–74.
37.
KoukiadakiA (2019) Application (Article 51) and limitations (Article 52(1)). In: DorssemontFLörcherKClauwaertS, et al. (eds) The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the Employment Relation. Oxford: Hart Publishing, pp. 109–112.
38.
LeibfriedSPiersonP (2000) Social policy: left to courts and markets? In: WallaceHPollackMARoederer-RynningC, et al. (eds) Policy Making in the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 273–293.
39.
LenaertsKGutiérrez-FonsJ (2010) The constitutional allocation of powers and general principles of EU law. Common Market Law Review47(6): 1629–1669.
40.
LenaertsKGutiérrez-FonsJ (2017) The European Court of Justice as the guardian of the rule of EU social law. In: VandenbrouckeFBarnardCde BaereG (eds) A European Social Union after the Crises. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
41.
MartinsenDS (2015) An ever more powerful court?The Political Constraints of Legal Integration in the European Union. Oxford: Oxford Academic.
42.
MartinsenDSHobolthM (2016) The effectiveness of transgovernmental networks: managing the practical application of European integration in the case of Solvit. In: DrakeSSmithM (eds) New Directions in the Effective Enforcement of EU Law and Policy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 152–175.
43.
MenegattiERainoneS (2022) Editorial: special Issue – the NextGenerationEU in action: impact on social and labour policies. Italian e-Journal of Labour Law15(1S).
44.
MoravcsikA (2002) In defence of the democratic deficit: reassessing legitimacy in the European Union. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies40(4): 603–624.
45.
MuirE (2018) Drawing positive lessons from the presence of ‘the social’ outside of EU social policy stricto sensu. European Constitutional Law Review14(1): 75–95.
Robin-OlivierS (2023) ‘General Report’ in European Social Union. Sofia: The XXX Fide Congress Publications. 2023, Vol. 3.
48.
RoccaM (2016) Enemy at the (flood) gates: EU ‘exceptionalism’ in recent tensions with the International Protection of Social Rights. European Labour Law Journal7(1): 52–80.
49.
ScharpfFW (2010) The asymmetry of European integration, or why the EU cannot be a ‘social market economy. Socio-Economic Review8(2): 211–250.
50.
SchoukensPSpasovaSDe BeckerE, et al. (2023) Improving Access to Social Protection in the European Union: A Proposal for Further Action. Paper providing expertise to the future Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. (January–June 2024).
VandenbrouckeFKeuneMCortiF, et al. (2020) The Rationale for and the Nature and Content of European Social Rights. Amsterdam: EuSocialCit Working Paper, available online at: https://zenodo.org/records/4555331#.YDOkMTGSlPY.
53.
VerschuerenH (2015) Free movement of EU citizens: including for the poor?Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law22(1): 10–34.
