European social security policy: challenges and possibilities

The impact of the European Union on Social Security is quite complex and enigmatic. At the starting point, there is a genuine paradox: whereas the construction of a large and unique market supposes, among many others prerequisites, the harmonization of social security systems, this harmonization is left to the good will of the member States since Social security is not truly within the competence of the Union. In these conditions, it is quite obvious that a thought and organized harmonization is absolutely unreachable. Beyond the threat of systems of social protection in the European Union contracting, the issue arises of their restructuring and alignment. Given the common challenges they all face (ageing populations, family instability, unemployment, social exclusion and job insecurity), the priority for the reform debate is the redefi nition of fundamental rights and the need to draw a distinction between conditional and universal rights. Through a brief review of EU social policy development and role in European integration theory, this article will argue that, despite its expansion, EU social policy lacks vital financial and political muscle to signifi cantly affect national welfare regimes and create a European welfare state. Moreover, its broad guidelines and flexible implementation may even encourage national social policy diversifi cation rather than harmonization