ABSTRACT
The European Union represents the foremost example of a global regional bloc. It is a huge organisation comprising a growing number of nationstates that delegate some of their sovereignty to the EU so as to support economic, political, and social decision-making at the European level. Yet it has invited a myriad of alternative perspectives. While its economic policies have remained overtly driven by neo-liberalism, it has been far more socially orientated than any other contending regional bloc: thus, the
presentation of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union. In contrast, it has been perceived as no more than the slave of the United States, yet it has also been construed as a powerful entity independent of the USA; it has been portrayed as ‘fortress Europe’ in its immigration policies, but also as the champion of freedom of movement of labour and of human rights; it has been perceived as possessing no social policies of its own except for labour legislation, leaving social policy formulation to the nation-state governments with its own role as basic support and coordination; on the other hand, its social policy inventory now covers a wide area. This chapter outlines the key developments and issues of the European Union as the prime global supranational organisation in relation to social policy. The chapter begins with a focus on origins and structures over the past halfcentury, and the accompanying historical treaties that guide the social framework. It engages with seminal structural and political issues, such as the enlargement of the Union whose more recent growth in membership has turned it into the world’s biggest regional organisation, while harbouring substantial internal opposition. Next, we cover specifi c areas of EU social policy and its progressively widening defi nition of social policy. The analysis deals with the workforce, the social charter and social rights, family policy, policies for older people, and education. We then address the UK Government’s political equivocations relating to EU social policy. The following section concentrates upon the Eurozone crisis, the social and economic impacts on social welfare policy, not least in the Mediterranean economies. We next look at selective explanations of the euro crisis before addressing the specifi c policy responses from the EU’s institutions in order to assuage the worst effects of member states’ austerity budgets. The chapter concludes by speculating on the future viability of a European social policy and the EU’s institutional resilience in the face of further fi nancial crisis.
