Again and again a common European social policy is discussed and it is asked “Is it possible to establish one Social Model in Europe?”
In comparison to the United States, the European countries provide much more welfare for their citizens. If we speak of health care, a minimum wage in times of unemployment, pensions or education. It is clear that Europe attaches great importance to these comforts, while the United States follows its principle of the free market, which means low taxes and more individual responsibility.
Nevertheless, if we have a closer look at Europe, differences among the European states become obvious. While Great Britain has a similar system like the United States, France focuses on the pensions. In Sweden taxes are very high in comparison to the other countries, therefore they supply their citizens with a universal welfare package. In Germany the situation looks quite similar, with the difference that the German Welfare State has it’s centre of attention in health care, pensions and unemployment assistance, but it lacks investment in education.
So there are some common values in the different European Welfare States. Nevertheless, finding a common social policy in the EU is difficult. Every country has different preferences and conditions. Furthermore, the Welfare State has to be financed and not every European citizen is willing to pay so much taxes like the Swedes. Moreover, establishing another system might be very difficult. One for all seems impossible. Probably it is better to retain the various Welfare States in their uniqueness. Once again this topic illustrates Europe’s main characteristic: Unity in diversity.
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The other problem is that different EU members have very different levels of GDP and accumulated wealth and are thus in very different circumstance when it comes to affording some of the higher levels of social welfare, education, public healthcare and pensions benefits.
However it should be possible to develop common minimum standards in all these areas - if only to avoid distorting the labour market, creating “welfare tourism” and avoiding anomolies such as where British or Irish citizens can get better free public healthcare treatment in France than they can in Britain or Ireland…
It would be nice to maintain diversity, but there is a lot of pressure on European welfare states, via international trade liberalisation, and also via the rules the European Union sets for its internal market. This gives rise to some minimum requirement for common regulation, and to some necessary adaptation on the national level.
One example: it is slowly becoming impossible to flexibly agree on social standards, including wages, through collective negotiations, because these standards cannot be enforced against companies from other EU states. Those have a right to enter the market, to provide services. This mainly affects the construction sector, so far.
This form of collective negotiations is dominant in Germany and Sweden. Those countries can only maintain these collective contracts by making them binding on all through law or government degree based on a law, which will make the process less flexible.
Germany is also going to have to introduce a general minimum wage, in 2012 at the latest, as it will have to open its labour market to workers from all European countries by then.
It is impossible to keep everything as it was. The task we face is more how we keep high social standards in a changing environment. In the last years the influence of the EU has mainly been to disrupt existing arrangements. Building down standards has also been the main thrust of national ‘reform’ measures. This tendency needs to be turned around, and the EU has to show that it can also play a constructive role.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0