Social Guarantees for Public Servants in the European Union Member States: a Comparative Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to analyze and compare social guarantees for public servants in several Europeancountries. Three groups of countries had been chosen for the comparison: 1) Germany and Belgium as an example ofcareer model civil service, 2) United Kingdom and Denmark as a case illustrating post model, 3) Estonia and Lithuaniaas an example of new democracies. The comparison was based on three dimensions: the scope of social guarantees,the legal regulation and functions and place of those guarantees in general motivation system. Author concludesthat there is no universally accepted definition of social guaranties, but the analysis of states' legislation provides theframework for the clarification of the concept. Often social guarantees compound of certain social rights, variousholidays and leaves, medical insurance, a range of benefits, compensation and other supportive means for civilservants Different centralization / decentralization tendencies, some practises used in the private sector are observedin the above mentioned countries.