the eu accession states and the european social model
TRANSCRIPT
The EU accession states
And the European Social Model
Introduction: from 15 to 27
• The background of accession states (CEE)– communist legacies and new challenges– processes of transformation– social policy developments
• The reception of the accession states• Future welfare trajectories: ESM or liberal?• Future EU expansion. From the Balkans to
the Urals: the end of the ESM?
Map of EU in 2007
Foundations of welfare: structure of lecture
• Historical legacies• Post-communist experiences: the triple division
Southern EU accession states (no welfare), CEE states have established welfare systems
• Main influences on transformations– International agencies– Macro-economic strategies– Political strategies
• Outcomes
Historical legacies 1 – pre 1914
• Central European states formed part of Austro-Hungarian Empire– Bismarkian tendencies
• Romania – Bulgaria were part of Ottoman Empire
• Baltics part of Tsarist Russian Empire
Historical tendencies 2: communist legacies
• Post-1945 communist states extend welfare – To foster industrialisation– To sustain support for new systems– Universal cover incl. collective agriculture
• State as sole employer: no unemployment
• 1950s and 1960s: extensive female employment (extensive child care facilities)
Historical legacies 3: post- 1989
• The causes of collapse– economic inefficiency + inability to change– ideological failure
• The collapse of communist rule– precedent Hungary,1956: Czechoslovakia, 1968– Poland’s organised opposition (Solidarity)– GDR + Czechoslovakia: mass mobilisation – Hungary: reform wing of CP
Economic legacies
• CP systems: – large enterprise: vertical integration: fixed price– employer-based (state) welfare
• legacies– fragile financial services (state bank debt)– high levels of systemic risk– paradox: strong state needed to remove state
CEE states: one block or many?
• ‘Visegrad’ states (Poland: Hungary: Czech Republic: Slovakia: Slovenia)
• ‘New Baltic’ (Latvia: Lithuania: Estonia)
• South East (Romania and Bulgaria)
• Candidate (Turkey: Croatia: Macedonia)
• Other (Belarus: Ukraine: Georgia etc.)
Common challenges of 1990s: the slow retreat of the state
• Liberalise:– markets (trade policy + currency controls)– prices + wages (result: inflation + wage cuts)
• Cut state expenditure: partial results as initially social expenditure rises
• Two-tier banking (predates 1989):
• Wage bargaining (incomes policies)
• Privatisation (slow) + property reform
Drivers of institutional welfare innovations
• International – IMF: World Bank:– Liberal privatisation of pensions, health care,
elder care, child care– Social assistance as safety net – Reinforced by investment funding for
modernisation
• EU – emphasis on social protection and social inclusion (next slide)
EU Accession criteria (social policy)
• Copenhagen Criteria (1993) include– market economy and political democracy– rule of law and involvement of social partners
• 1995 EU White Paper: social policy chapter– health and safety at work / labour law– equal opportunities for men and women– social security protection for migrant workers
• Lisbon Social Policy Agenda 2000 (EES)
Macro-economic strategies
• Visegrad: ‘embedded’ neo-liberal– capital import (foreign investment) product export– post-war continental welfare: social insurance
• Baltic: straight neo-liberal– deregulated labour markets (cheap)– low taxation / social assistance
• South East: mineral / primary product export
Social Policy development in CEE states
• Major gain: democracy and social rights
• Influence of market-making– World Bank (et al) liberal pension policy– EU influence gender equality + social exclusion
• EU influence: institutional capability (promise of joining Eurozone: Slovenia and Slovakia join)
Reception of CEE states
• Problems of migration (German and French constraints)
• Fear for future (the experience of GDR)• CEE states and Americanisation• Issues of EU borders:
– Bulgaria and Romania join EU (2007)– Croatia pending– Turkey (?): Ukraine? Belarus?
Future Social Europe
Liberal model ESM
Stronginstitutionalcapability
Privatisedsocial policy
Catch up(more socialfunds)
Weakinstitutionalcapability
Chaos Drive to thebottom
The Crash: CEE states and crisis
• Legacy of private capital investment in economic slowdown– Subsidiary western banks in trouble: local banks face bankruptcy: loss of public
confidence will create run on banks– E.g. Latvia: loan from IMF: welfare cuts, public protest, contracting economy.– Poland, Czech republic, Slovakia OK: Hungary & Baltics in severe difficulty (also
Greece)
• Richer EU countries are stingier (face own economic issues): – Italian, Austrian and Swedish banks exposed as shareholders take fright at weak
loan books– Initial risk of currency collapse in non-Euro pegged currencies (forint, zloty) =
ballooning Euro debt repayments
• ? A re-emerging division between old and new member states? – March 1st 2009 CEE members hold mini-conference before EU summit– Renewed demand for EU structural funds and for ECB to rewrite rulebook
Turkish candidacy?