La "Europa Social", La Armonizacion De Politicas Y El Desafio De La Heterogeneidad Socioeconomica

In: Foro internacional: revista trimestral, Band 51, Heft 3, S. 397-428

Abstract

For several reasons, redistributive social policy has always played a minor role in the European Union. Basically, the only distinctive European social policy consists in consumer protection, and in the protection of individuals against any form of discrimination based on nationality or gender. Such social protection is an important example of "negative" integration, while the enforcement of positive social rights would require not only a much larger budget, but also a level of top-down harmonization which is unfeasible under present circumstances. Hence, each enlargement of the EU (or, more generally, of a regional bloc) changes the calculus of the benefits and costs of policy harmonization. In sum, the main limits to deep regional integration are social rather than economic or even, strictly speaking, political. Adapted from the source document.