ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the fundamental role that European economic integration plays in terms of social affairs. It provides the question of whether the European Union (EU) member states are capable of ensuring equitable and universal access to health care, or whether the European integration process is a mechanism that leads to social exclusion. The view on the European integration process is a gloomy scenario whereby Economic and Monetary Union and the common market are turning Europe into a mere sub-section of the global economy unconcerned with social assistance. The EU has, from an administrative perspective, passed the point of a loose, even a strong international and intergovernmental organization. It exhibits clear signs of federal structures of federal systems of governance, albeit immature ones. The chapter also presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book.
