The State of the Welfare State in Europe Anno 1992 and Beyond

1992 was an important year for the process of European integration: significant steps had to be taken towards completing the ‘internal market’ and the preparation of the EMU. The European Centre for Workers’ Questions (Europäisches Zentrum für Arbeitnehmerfragen, EZA) commissioned the Higher Institute for Labour Studies (HIVA) of the Catholic University of Leuven (K.U.Leuven) in 1992 to set up a network of research institutes in order to study the extent to which ‘Social Europe’ is succeeding - or failing - to emerge under the pressure of those changes in European economic integration. Since then, two conferences were organised by HIVA (in 1995 and in 2000) with national papers on the EU Member States and a comparative analysis on the relationship between economic development and the welfare state. This volume contains the papers of the 2000 conference and a more updated comparative analysis. It deals with questions such as in what direction(s) are social protection systems evolving and how is the evolution of these systems being influenced by economic forces and economic reasoning. Is the welfare state sustainable and not in conflict with economic growth? How do the level and nature of social protection change as a result of new debates on cost containment, alternative financing, privatisation, increased targeting, devolution, etc.? In those contributions, a critical analysis of this reasoning and an indication of how these arguments are used in each country is given. The project and conference were organised with the support of the EZA and the European Commission. The Athenian Policy Forum (APF) stimulated the scientific debate and the dissemination of the results. The EZA and ETUI (European Trade Union Institute) want to encourage the debate within the social movements and trade unions. With all this support, hopefully these proceedings on the state of the welfare state in Europe in 1992 and beyond can further inspire policy-makers in the future.nrpages: 446status: publishe