ABSTRACT

The topic of policy integration is little researched in the case of social policies currently. This chapter aims to make a modest contribution in this direction by examining the present state and future prospects of the integration of EU social with economic and environmental policies on the basis of selected criteria. Combating desertification in the LFAs of the Mediterranean EU member states (MS) is used as an illustrative example. The chapter comprises five sections. The second section negotiates the relationships between social welfare, social policies, sustainable development and the need for PI in the European Union, focusing on LFAs sensitive to land degradation and desertification. The third section presents the current situation in the general EU social policy area and in selected social sectors. The fourth section examines the present state of integration of EU social with economic and environmental policies. Summarizing the analysis, the last section discusses the conundrum of policy integration and its implications for combating desertification in Mediterranean Europe, and offers future research directions.