Abstract
Recent decades have been characterised by a number of crises, such as the financial crisis of 2008 and the more recent Covid-19 crisis, which not only disrupted everyday life, but also had a far-reaching impact on the field of social law. As it can be hard not to get lost in this sea of reforms and changes, the relevance of the book The Lighthouse Function of Social Law, edited by Yves Jorens, is undeniable. In this book, which is the result of a three-day conference organised by the Lab for International & Interdisciplinary Social Affairs (LIISA) in September 2023 in Ghent (Belgium), various academics in the field of social law shed light on the question: ‘In what way does social law interact and exchange with other fields?’. The book itself is divided into four parts, each corresponding to one of the following sub-questions: ‘What is the essence of European social law?’; ‘What lessons can be drawn from the history of social law, with a view to future crises?’; ‘How does regionalisation influence the development of social law?’; and ‘How can the effectiveness of social law be strengthened?’. I will discuss these questions in the following paragraphs.
The book starts with an analysis of the essence of social law; it distils the basic principles of social systems, with a focus on their relationship with (EU) economic rights, in particular the right to free movement. The interaction between these two aspects is clearly set out throughout the first part of this book: national social policies can restrict free movement at EU level, but are at the same time necessary to facilitate it. In her contribution, Torres García points out how national economic interests tend to prevail above the humanistic aspects of the right to lifelong learning. While describing how this right is applied in Spain, she emphasises its role not only in building a resilient economy, but also in social inclusion and personal development. Moreover, she proposes that lifelong learning should be planned from a social perspective. The skills systems adopted by each country should especially assist people with lower qualifications; otherwise, lifelong learning will increase inequalities at the expense of vulnerable groups who have not had educational opportunities, such as immigrants and people with disabilities.
The second part of the book lays out the lighthouse function of social law by describing its history, discussing the origins and evolution of the International Labour Organisation, the Belgian pension system and labour disputes. While the various contributions give us particularly interesting insights into the current social landscape, they give only implicit answers to the central question: ‘can we learn lessons from past crises?’. However, the chapter by Martone is an interesting exception to this. Reflecting upon the European debt crisis of 2011, he shows how the added value of solidarity was recognised in the approach taken to tackling the Covid-19 crisis. Instead of continuing to expect austerity-related reforms from weaker countries, EU resources were allocated to support EU Member States in major difficulties, which were then able to strengthen their social assistance systems. Put more poetically, Martone states that the African proverb ‘Alone we go faster but together we go further’ could be used as a mantra to tackle future crises.
In part three of the book, several authors touch upon the relationship between national and EU law and the complex division of powers regarding the development of social systems. In their contribution, Mišic and Strban show the uncertainty, ambiguity and even unequal treatment that arises out of the lack of harmonisation in social security law, by describing the dichotomy in the free movement framework between ‘deserving’ economically active and ‘undeserving’ EU citizens. While equal treatment provisions concerning numerous social rights apply only to the first category, EU Member States can exclude the latter group, as these States have the competence to organise their own social security schemes autonomously. This leads to dispersed legislation and large gaps in coverage, a common theme not only in this part, but also in the first part of the book. As both parts highlight the lack of protection for certain vulnerable groups in society, such as self-employed workers and the unemployed, the difference between them is not always clear.
Part four asks to what extent the effectiveness of social law can be further improved; this question is addressed from various perspectives, such as those of fiscal, migration and criminal law, again leading to a rather broad approach. The contribution from Damen, on privacy law, offers some important suggestions for legislators and valuable nuances: in the enforcement of social law, close attention must also be paid to safeguards anchored in other branches of the law. More concretely, his chapter shows that the GDPR principle of transparency turns out to be an empty shell when applied to automated welfare fraud detection. This became painfully clear in the Dutch ‘toeslagenaffaire’, when thousands of recipients of child care benefits were automatically labelled as fraudsters and had to pay back disproportionately large sums of money to the Dutch state, as they had insufficient legal protection. Given that the subjects of social law are often the most vulnerable, it remains necessary to keep an eye on structural inequalities when shaping interaction with other fields.
Although the papers brought together in The Lighthouse Function of Social Law all centre around a common theme – the interaction between social law and other areas of law – this collection can from time to time feel somewhat incoherent, due to the wide range of topics addressed. However, this weakness may in fact prove to be an important strength and unique quality, as it allows for interesting insights into the essence, history and current developments of social law, which otherwise might have not been brought together. More specifically, the book contains no less than 31 contributions from academics working in various domains of social law, thus providing a view of the situation in different EU Member States, as well as other national examples from outside the EU and from international law. The book seems to be seeking to appeal to a rather broad audience, such as lawyers working in the field of social law, but also non-legal experts who wish to broaden their vision or deepen their knowledge. Lastly, policymakers, legislators and judges can draw inspiration from the guiding function of social law, described in the book, to tackle future crises, such as the uncertain future of employees’ rights in a digitalised world.
