Mere objectives or hard law? A case study on the EU's social policy and the implementation of social justice principle in the supranational law

In Article 3 TEU the Union commits itself to combating social exclusion and discrimination as well as to promoting social justice. This does not change the fact, though, that the ability and/ or commitment to create a truly... [ view full abstract ]

In Article 3 TEU the Union commits itself to combating social exclusion and discrimination as well as to promoting social justice. This does not change the fact, though, that the ability and/ or commitment to create a truly inclusive society varies considerably between the EU Member States (cf. e.g. Schraad-Tischler and Kroll Social Justice in the EU – A Cross-national Comparison 2014). Furthermore, in the recent years the European Council’s agenda was dominated by the economic and financial crisis in a manner, that somewhat marginalised the Union’s social policy and social investment. The structural reforms and austerity policies pursued during the crisis with a view to stabilize national economies and budgets have had by and large negative effects with regard to social justice, undermining national social security systems, aggravating social divide and pushing youth unemployment to ever-new record highs. However, Europe-wide social investment, be it by private and public sector, is crucial in order to counter the increasing risk of poverty and boost the employment potential, notably in times of crisis (to this effect, see the EESC-Opinion of 26/3/2014 on the impact of social investment on employment and public budgets; it calls on the Commission to provide for a more ambitious and longer-term policy roadmap to implement the social investment package by at least 2020). The proposed contribution will analyse selected EU law relating to social policy with a view to determining its potential effects and/or effectiveness with regard to promoting social justice. In particular, the author will attempt to synthesise measures undertaken in response to the economic and financial crisis, including the missions of the European Social Fund (ESF, see Regulation (EU) No 1304/2013 of 17 December 2013) so as to identify potential fields in which further action would be desirable for more social justice and inclusion.