Social Protection and Economic Union

Abstract

As Europe moves towards economic and monetary union, the shortcomings in the de velopment of European social policy will be come more apparent. Thus, although there have been plenty of initiatives affecting work ing conditions and the Social Fund is clearly an important instrument of Commission policy, few policy developments at the European level could be said to have had much effect on redis tribution. This article assesses the scope for a more explicit involvement in social policy, es pecially social protection, by the European tier and considers the consequences of a failure to address this issue. Despite the likely opposition to any proposals to confer some responsibility for social protection on the supranational tier, the need for changes in current arrangements is demonstrated. This article reviews proposals for E U level social protection and discusses obstacles to their implementation, notably the lack of cross-border solidarity. It is argued that the manner in which social protection is dealt with will be an important pointer to the future character of the E U and that this issue needs to be given greater prominence on the political agenda.