Austerity and the Faded Dream of a Social Europe

Colm O'Cinneide 

University College London - Faculty of Laws
June 1, 2013

A. Nolan (ed.), Economic and Social Rights after the Global Financial Crisis, Cambridge University Press, 2014, Forthcoming 
Abstract:      
Most constitutional systems in Europe are based upon the assumption that the state should play an active role in securing the economic and social well-being of its people, almost all European states have ratified the European Social Charter and the key UN and ILO instruments relating to social rights, while the European Union (EU) is committed to the establishment of a ‘social Europe.’ However, the fallout from the economic crisis of 2008 has accelerated the disintegration of the much-vaunted Europe social model. A considerable gulf currently exists between the rhetoric and the reality of ‘social Europe.’

These developments have begun to generate tension across and between the multiple layers of European governance: the human rights provisions of national and European law are increasingly being used to challenge austerity measures, even as social security and employment law across Europe is being re-shaped to conform with the requirement of ordo-liberal and neo-liberal policy prescriptions. This paper explores these tensions, and critically examines the extent to which respect for social rights can be said to be constitutionally embedded within European society. It also calls into question whether European states are seriously committed to translating the idea of a ‘social Europe’ into reality,

Number of Pages in PDF File: 26

Keywords: Human Rights, Social Rights

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2317534