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There seems to be a broad consensus in Europe that there is a European Social Model (ESM), typical of European societies and that this model should be protected and developed. But the ESM is an ambiguous notion: is it a simple description of the actual state of European societies? Is this a normative concept? Is it consistent with contemporary evolution marked by economic globalization and liberalization? Is this a political project? Section 1 provides an assessment of 'the European Social Model'. This model has different patterns among EU-15 countries. The generally adopted classification (Esping-Andersen, 1990) sets out four social models in Europe: liberal, continental, Scandinavian and Mediterranean. Are the four models variants of a single ESM? Section 2 compares their economic and social performances. The best economic performances are obtained by the Liberals and the Scandinavian countries; Scandinavian countries have also the best social performance. The economic performances of continental model countries are poor. Are they condemned to evolue to the liberal model, or can they move towards the Scandinavian model? Can this model be implemented in all larger open, heterogeneous and with high unemployment countries? Section 3 discusses the need to adapt the ESM to new economic and social challenges: the ageing of populations, the rising trend in health spending, the change in family structures, the rising trend in social exclusion, the persistence of mass unemployment in some countries, of low fertility rates in some others. The section presents the actual debates, national or European, about reforms of pension system, health system, unemployment benefits, family policy and anti-poverty flight. Section 4 presents the actual situation of 'Social Europe'. This expression may refer to the current actions of European Institutions. It may also refer to a political project: increasing gradually the level of Europe's intervention in social fields. But the objective may be to 'modernise social protection', i.e. to reduce its field and costs, or on the contrary to progressively implement common social norms in all Member States in order to reach a high and similar social protection level. The single market makes it more and more difficult for national protection systems to coexist. The respective roles of national and European institutions in the evolution of the ESM (or ESMs) are discussed. The current European strategy - the social Agenda and the Open method of coordination (OMC) - remains disconnected from national debates and reforms. Can they become more democratic and more powerful? The conclusion presents two views on the future of the ESM. The first suggests a new architecture of welfare states in Europe, inspired by the Scandinavian model, so the impact of social protection as a productive factor increases. The second stresses the importance of guaranteeing social cohesion in the Member States, by reducing income inequalities and ensuring a high level of social protection. Yet, the improvement of the European economic framework and the development of the Social Europe are not technical issues. They require a major change in the economic policy thinking and a new alliance between social classes concerned about full employment and social cohesion.

There seems to be a broad consensus in Europe that there is a European Social Model (ESM), typical of European societies and that this model should be protected and developed. But the ESM is an ambiguous notion: is it a simple description of the actual state of European societies? Is this a normative concept? Is it consistent with contemporary evolution marked by economic globalization and liberalization? Is this a political project? Section 1 provides an assessment of 'the European Social Model'. This model has different patterns among EU-15 countries. The generally adopted classification (Esping-Andersen, 1990) sets out four social models in Europe: liberal, continental, Scandinavian and Mediterranean. Are the four models variants of a single ESM? Section 2 compares their economic and social performances. The best economic performances are obtained by the Liberals and the Scandinavian countries; Scandinavian countries have also the best social performance. The economic performances of continental model countries are poor. Are they condemned to evolue to the liberal model, or can they move towards the Scandinavian model? Can this model be implemented in all larger open, heterogeneous and with high unemployment countries? Section 3 discusses the need to adapt the ESM to new economic and social challenges: the ageing of populations, the rising trend in health spending, the change in family structures, the rising trend in social exclusion, the persistence of mass unemployment in some countries, of low fertility rates in some others. The section presents the actual debates, national or European, about reforms of pension system, health system, unemployment benefits, family policy and anti-poverty flight. Section 4 presents the actual situation of 'Social Europe'. This expression may refer to the current actions of European Institutions. It may also refer to a political project: increasing gradually the level of Europe's intervention in social fields. But the objective may be to 'modernise social protection', i.e. to ...

In Europe, post-Fordist national economic trajectories respond to the crisis via either the negotiated involvement of workers or wage contract flexibility, creating a center-periphery hierarchy in the European Union. Here it is argued that an unfortunate result of the Maastricht treaty is a tendency toward the flexibility solution. After discussing the mass unemployment in Europe, a common social policy is posited comprising alternatives such as a Euro-Keynesian demand recovery strategy & a massive redistribution of jobs by reducing labor time. 1 Figure. Adapted from the source document.

The political and economic crises of the recent decades as well as the new changes brought on by globalization and digitalization have contributed to exacerbate social inequalities and injustice and revealed different social realities in Europe. The EU increasingly deals with social issues in its cultural and heritage policy. In this article, we explore the construction of this social dimension and advance the concept of 'social Europe' by exploring its cultural aspect based on our analysis of a recent EU heritage action, the European Heritage Label. In this action, the narrations of the European past and the attempts to foster common cultural heritage in Europe function as building blocks to create Europe as an intertwined cultural and social entity and to socialize a new generation of European citizens. We scrutinize the European Heritage Label and its notion of heritage from two perspectives. First, we analyse how the selection reports of these heritage sites construct a notion of social Europe. Second, we examine how visitors to these sites construct social Europe in their qualitative interviews. Key elements in this construction are narratives related to various values, mobility, and diversity. ; Peer reviewed

An argument commonplace in narratives concerning the difficult recovery after the 2008 crisis, the relative backslide of 2011, and the European peripheral debt crisis is that difficulties occurred because European economic integration has been privileged over any form of political solidarity. Consequently, Europe should develop the institutions of solidarity to provide relief of instability and inequality. Maastricht had to lead to political Union and to some form of solidarity, but this aspect always remained vague and was not implemented. What has been implemented after the crisis is an even tougher set of control-oriented institutions that introduce further rigidities in European economies, reducing the degrees of freedom of national economic policy. The aim of this contribution is to argue that the implementation of solidarity schemes in the EU should not be conceived of as a compensatory measure for the costs and damages directly or indirectly caused by the European Monetary Union (EMU) and its rigidities and passiveness, including the inability to curb financial instability. Solidarity schemes should instead be the product of unified programs framed by a genuine constitutional federalism.

The political and economic crises of the recent decades as well as the new changes brought on by globalization and digitalization have contributed to exacerbate social inequalities and injustice and revealed different social realities in Europe. The EU increasingly deals with social issues in its cultural and heritage policy. In this article, we explore the construction of this social dimension and advance the concept of 'social Europe' by exploring its cultural aspect based on our analysis of a recent EU heritage action, the European Heritage Label. In this action, the narrations of the European past and the attempts to foster common cultural heritage in Europe function as building blocks to create Europe as an intertwined cultural and social entity and to socialize a new generation of European citizens. We scrutinize the European Heritage Label and its notion of heritage from two perspectives. First, we analyse how the selection reports of these heritage sites construct a notion of social Europe. Second, we examine how visitors to these sites construct social Europe in their qualitative interviews. Key elements in this construction are narratives related to various values, mobility, and diversity. ; peerReviewed

'Social Europe' has various meanings. It may refer to the current intervention of Europeanauthorities in the fields of social protection and employment legislation, as a complement orsometimes as a substitute to national institutions interventions. The role of Europeanauthorities is clearly stated in European Treaties that assert that MS remain responsible fortheir social protection. At the same time, the logic of European construction, the risinginterdependence of economies, the interconnection of economic and monetary issues leadEuropean authorities to tend to increase their role in social issues and to pilot 'themodernisation' of national social protection systems.But social Europe may also refer to a political project, aiming at increasing the power ofEuropean authorities in social areas: there would be a social Europe like there is today aneconomic or monetary Europe. This social Europe would lead to unify gradually Europeansocial systems. This would imply a transfer of sovereignty which would be questionable sincethe role of social partners would be reduced and there would be no guarantee on the content ofthis social Europe, possibly moving towards a liberal or social-democrat system. SocialEurope may imply a step back in social democracy in Europe. At the same time the explicitrecognition that Social Europe exists and that it should be managed in an open and democraticway, could be a progress as compared to a situation of constrained convergence.Last, Social Europe may refer to a political project aiming at deepening the European SocialModel, by unifying social protection, redistribution and employment legislation towards thetop. This could take place through the gradual introduction of social norms in each country athigh and progressively similar levels. But there is no consensus in Europe on the content ofthis social Europe (.).