Articles Originally Presented at the EISS Conference on ‘Choice in Social Security’ in Graz 2003: Freedom of Choice in Europe's Social Security Law

Abstract

In the first part of this article, an inventory of the various types of choice that may be present in social security is outlined. In the second part, starting from the assumption that there is freedom of choice, the question of whose freedom of choice this is is addressed. Although neither national law nor international law recognises the principle of freedom of choice in social security, a concrete form of freedom of choice may be inferred from international human rights instruments and this is explored in the third part of the article. In the fourth and final part, the relationship between freedom of choice and social security is examined and the question of whether they are they friends or foes posed.