ABSTRACT
However, looking at the EU documents we find a commitment to a common welfare policy with the aim of limiting the inequalities within Europe, tackling poverty and exclusion, removing discrimination and achieving greater social justice (Commission of the European Community, 1994). There is a fundamental ambition that the European institutions should introduce measures designed to foster social integration and social cohesion (Ferrera et rd., 2000). Such an ambition entails that national welfare policies become more coordinated and integrated and also that some of the components of social citizenship be taken over by the European Community.
