ABSTRACT

This chapter explains the impacts of European integration on social policy development since the launch and relaunch of Lisbon strategy. It presents the current economic crisis on both the road map drawn at Lisbon, and social policy development across Europe. Analysing patterns of socioeconomic convergence through a quantitative analysis, Julia O'Connor finds modest levels of convergence as decreased variation in social expenditure in the European Union (EU)15 throughout 1980-2006 but with considerable variation over time. Gender equality has always been central to social policy development at the EU level, and it gained increased significance within the context of Lisbon strategy. While assessing the impact of the economic crisis in NMS, contributions by Drahokoupil and Myant and Lendvai also refer to the different vulnerabilities and resilience of the different types of welfare regimes across the region and of the growth strategies associated with each welfare regime.