Europeanization of voluntary organizations in the social welfare area?

This paper addresses the impact of the European Union on voluntary organizations within the social welfare area, focusing on organizations representing marginalized groups. The EU has strengthened its ambitions in creating a... [ view full abstract ]

This paper addresses the impact of the European Union on voluntary organizations within the social welfare area, focusing on organizations representing marginalized groups. The EU has strengthened its ambitions in creating a common social welfare model across Europe and has increasingly been approaching areas that have previously been national concerns. Many social policy initiatives at EU level are now preceded by open consultation processes where voluntary organizations from different countries are given the opportunity to comment on the proposals. The European Commission has also been instrumental in engaging voluntary organizations in various programs and projects through the transfer of financial resources and in the establishment of transnational networks that gather European organizations in the areas of social policy such as poverty, disability, homelessness, immigration and integration. These new opportunities at the European level might have both enabling and regulating effects on voluntary organizations that may be more or less willing to engage in EU activities to strengthen their resources and positions.
To what extent and how does the EU matter for voluntary organizations within the social welfare area? We will present results from the large, multi-methodological research program ‘Beyond the welfare state: Europeanization of Swedish civil society organizations (EUROCIV)’ and show how processes of Europeanization affect Swedish voluntary organizations working within the welfare policy area. Europeanization is understood as a multifaceted process in which the EU influences national actors, but where national actors also engage in ‘usage’ of the EU. The Swedish case is interesting, as the Swedish welfare state often has been considered to be at odd with the values and policy orientations propagated at EU-level. However, the Swedish EU membership coincided with welfare reforms involving public sector retrenchment and privatization of services, which may have influenced the relations between public and voluntary sector and transformed the political environment.